In Maximum Ride
by Simply Pirate
Summary: It's a normal day at the E house, until two Maximum Ride fans fall out of the sky. Marlene and October are shocked to find themselves at the beginning of the Angel Experiment. Rated T for slight violence, language, later romance, and paranoia. R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi Everybody! **

**So my friend, Marlene, and I are re-writing Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, but with us in it! We are alternating writing chapters. Marlene wrote this chapter, and I wrote the next one. Whoever POV it is is the person who wrote it ;) She is Marlene/Violet and I am October/Coral. Savvy? **

**Please tell me if you see any spelling mistakes and such. :)**

**Keegan: God knows the two of them have the worst grammar _ever_. **

**Me: Ah, Keegan is my muse and will later appear in this story.  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. All belongs to JP and Marlene. **

**...well, except the editing. I did that. Marlene, you can worship me now.**

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**Chapter One**

**Marlene's P.O.V**

October looked at me, then at the shadow of the house in front of us. I smiled slightly and went to the front door, October right behind me. I knocked once and October knocked once, then we stood back. I wondered if anyone would answer, it was midnight. After a few minutes the door opened. A tall, lanky boy with strawberry blond hair was looking sightlessly at October.

"Iggy!" She said. "Oh my god! We're in Max Ride!"

"Uh, what?" Iggy said, but we weren't listening.

"Oh my god, you're right!" I said. "Wait, what're we doing here?" October shrugged.

"Girls, kind of blind over here!" We looked at him, then at each other, and back to him.

"Can we come in?" October asked. "We need to sit down." Iggy hesitated.

"We're running away," I said quickly. "There are Scientists after us, we won't be here long." October shot me a questioning look, but didn't say anything.

"Uh, sure, okay." Iggy went into the house yelling "Guys WAKE UP! We have visitors!" as he did. There were many slamming of doors as people burst out of their rooms.

OK, let me explain what's going on. About a day or two ago we had been in the library reading Max Ride manga. Naturally with our super mad writer's skills we were called into the book. Now, note the calmness with which I say this. Our writer's powers get us into all kinds of situations. Last Sunday our purses turned into unlimited money bags. So we were used to weird things happening. Now we were in the Max Ride books, and who knew who long we were going to stay?

"Hey, October," I whispered. "We're ninety-six percent human, two-percent bird, and two-percent . . ."

"Shark!" October said. I nodded.

"Exactly." Then I shuddered, hoping we didn't sprout fins.

"Who are you guys?" Fang appeared silently in his slightly-creepy shadow-like way, despite all that he still looked half-asleep. "How did you find us?"

"We weren't looking for you," October said quickly, another lie. "We got lost and just sort of . . ." she gestured around.

"Found ourselves here," I finished. Max walked up all calm and Max-like, completely awake. Oh God this would take some getting used to.

"What are your names?" She asked. "You said that you were running from the School, we're hours away how'd you get here?"

"I'm Violet, she's Coral. We did a lot of swimming and walking but we flew mostly." October gave me a split second look. Of course I stuck her with Coral. But it fit and it was Max Ride-y.

"Flew? Swam?" my heart dropped when Angel walked in. Her sleepy eyes widened. _Please, please, please don't say anything! We aren't spies!_ I thought as hard as I could. Slowly her face relaxed.

"How'd you get away? Were you rescued also?" _Thank you_. October sighed.

"We wish. We escaped the normal way. Crashed through a couple windows, took out a few Whitecoats, almost got eaten by Erasers." She shrugged. "We escaped at different times and met when we both tried to swim in the same pond." She smiled as if remembering the nonexistent day. "We sort of adopted each other as sisters, after she tried to rip my head off."

"I did not!" I complained.

"See?" Angel nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I think so." _We're writers_, I thought quickly. _This is gonna sound crazy but what actually happened was we were sucked into a Maximum Ride book and now we're here. You can trust us, you really can, just don't say anything._

"They're fine," Angel decided after a minute of listening to our thoughts. Max and Fang shared looks. Did they trust us? Of course not. How many people, claiming to be escaping the school, stumbled on their house in the middle of the night? Probably not many.

"You sure?" Max asked, giving me a suspicious look.

"Yeah, I'm positive," Angel said without hesitating. "Where's Gazzy?"

"Kid'll sleep through anything," Fang said, shaking his head. "Same with Nudge . . . Wherever she is. Oh, never mind."

"What's going on?" a little African-American girl was crazily tangled hair was walking down the hallway into the living room. "Huh? Who are they?" She must've been really tired, which would explain the lack of word flow.

"Violet and Coral," Angel said happily. "They escaped the school a little while ago and they've been on the run since." Nudge's eyes widened.

"How old are you guys?"

"Fourteen," October said, and then she thought for a minute. "Ish, we aren't positive."

"I'm eleven-ish! My name's Nudge! Are you Coral? So you're Violet, right? Why'd you name yourselves that? How long ago did you escape the Scientists? What are you? Do you have wings like us? I like my wings, I think they're pretty. Do you think you're wings are pretty what color are they?"

"Nudge," Max cut in. "I think you're scaring them." Nudge smiled apologetically. "Like she said, she's Nudge," Max said, looking at us. "I'm Max, that's Fang and Iggy." She gestured to them. "And Angel. There's another kid, The Gasman he's asleep." October nodded.

"Sorry we woke everyone up. We just need a place to sleep. We'll leave tomorrow." We will? I glanced at Angel but she wasn't paying attention to me.

"Stay," she said. "You guys should stay."

"Angel!" Fang said. Angel turned her big, wide eyes on Max.

"Can't they stay?" Max hesitated. "Please?"

"Angel, they aren't lost puppies. They're people like us, I don't think we can handle two more," Max said gently.

"But they're meant to stay here." Thank you, Angel. Max studied us for a long minute, like she was expecting us to morph into Erasers on the spot. "Stay for tonight," she said grudgingly. Any normal person would be insulted by her rudeness, not us. We knew what was going on, we knew why she wouldn't trust us.

"Thanks Max," I said. "We will leave tomorrow." Angel was watching October, who was no doubt wondering what the heck I was talking about.

"Alright everyone, let's get back to sleep." She shot us one more suspicious look before turning down the hallway and disappearing through a door. Iggy and Fang went a few minutes later, then Nudge. Angel, on the other hand, stayed.

"So," she said, settling herself on the couch. "What's your story?" October and I looked at each other then at Angel. "You're cover story," she clarified. "It's too coincidental."

"Oh." October sat down next to her and I folded myself onto the floor. "Did you have something in mind?" she asked. Angel nodded.

"Why do you call yourselves Coral and Violet?"

"It was the first thing that came to mind," I said. "I don't know. I guess that my favorite color is Violet, it was the brightest non-white color in the School." Angel thought for a minute. "And it like reminds me of home or mom or something. One of those creepy memory things."

"Perfect! What about you, October? And yeah, I know I can be scary sometimes." I smothered my laughter.

"How about the tips of my wings are coral colored?" October guessed, turning slightly to look at her back.

"But you guys don't have wings," Angel pointed out. "Or gills, or anything shark-y."

"That could be a problem. Considering you guys fly so much."

"Well, I gotta go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." She jumped lightly off the couch and went down the hallway to her bedroom. I sighed and stretched out on the floor.

"Marlene?"

"I'm awake."

"We can save Angel." I propped up on my elbow and raised my eyebrow. "We know what's going to happen, we can change it."

"October, I'm pretty sure that we're here to observe. We can't change anything! But we can go along with it, I think we're supposed to go with Max when she saves Angel. I don't know what we're gonna do . . . but we're gonna go." October gave me a look before stretching out on the couch and closing her eyes.

"Then rest up, we've got a big day tomorrow." The last thing I remembered before passing out was wondering why I was stuck on the floor.

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I woke suddenly, with a screaming pain in my back. Before I could scream, memories came flooding back to me and I remembered that I was in Max's house. Whimpering to myself I turned on my side and tried to convince myself that it was all just a vivid, intense, painful dream.

"M-Violet?"

I pried open my eyes.

"Please tell me I'm dreaming." I moaned.

"What's up?" She asked. I flipped onto my stomach, and used my arms as a pillow.

"My back is being spazzy."

"Growing wings?" October teased. I sat up slowly and we looked at each other. The irony of the moment was almost too much for me, but my back still hurt too much to really care.

October slid off the couch silently and went over to the kitchen. She dug around in three drawers before coming across what she was looking for, scissors. I got to my feet and painfully went over to the door. I yanked it open and we went outside.

"If you move I will probably stab you," October cautioned. "Can't see a thing." Carefully she started cutting huge slits into my shirt. The second she was done I pushed slightly and with a fwoooosh my brand new wings whipped open.

"Oh my god," I whispered, folding my wings around me so I could basically look at them. "I've got wings!" Ha! I thought. This is so freaking awesome! "Lemme see those," I said, holding out my hand. October handed me the scissors and turned around. Not needing to caution her, I starting cutting slits into her thick sweatshirt. Not as easy a task as one might think. Once I was done I stepped back and let her open her wings.

"Are we worried that we aren't spooked by this?" She asked, examining her wings. "Oh my gosh! Look at that!" The 'joints' of her wings, where they folded, were a light coral-looking color and they only reason that I knew that was because they were glowing. "Oh yeah! I glow!"

"Think they work?" I asked, stretching out my wings, I guessed that we had about thirteen-foot wing-spans.

"Only one way to find out," October said thoughtfully. "Up and away?"

I laughed and took a couple of steps back. Roughly calculating how much time I would need I ran and jumped off the ground, pushing my wings down and up. Not used to the extra work, my shoulder muscles were starting to hurt about five minutes after I took off. But I knew I would work that out eventually. I headed towards the forest and, with a glance back, saw October fifty feet below me. For those of you who have read the Max Ride series how James Patterson describes flying is nothing (say it with me, _nothing_) compared to the real thing.

_Wow, so I guess we are meant to stay here_. I stopped and hovered vertical for a minute.

"What?" October asked, craning her neck to look up at me.

"I just heard your voice in my head. You just thought that we really are meant to stay here." October shot me a surprised look. Going Angel on me? "No, I don't . . ." _OK, this is a little weird… can you hear me?_

_Of course I can, wait a second . . ._

"Awesome!" I said, doing a flip. "We've got telepathy."

_Think this is to help us? _October asked as we started circling back towards the house.

_Maybe, I mean it sure will help when we're deciding what to do next_. October hung back to catch the drift thing that my wings were making.

_What do you mean?_

"I mean, like, when we have to figure out who does what. We're obviously meant to follow Max and the others. What are we going to do when she goes to find Ella?" I said, tucking in my wings a little to start the drop back to the house. Wow, we were like instant naturals.

"Think we're going to go and find Angel?" October asked, hitting the ground and pulling her wings in. I landed next to her.

"They'll probably blame us for it, but yes. We'll probably end up going." I went to the front door and opened it as quietly as I could.

"We've probably got another hour of sleep," October guessed, squinting at the brightening horizon. She went inside and, after doing a quick 360, I went in after her and closed the door. Yes, you might have figured out by now that our wings came with the usual bird powers.

"Never thought I would be able to do a three-sixty," I sighed, flopping down on the floor. "Ow, can't sleep on the wings." I rolled over onto my stomach, bunching my hair under me like a pillow.

"Here." before I could look up October dropped a pillow on my head.

"Anyone else think this is upside down?" I muttered, grabbing the pillow and shoving it under my chin. "Max'll wake up first, then Gazzy. Prepare yourself." October groaned, but it looked like she was already asleep.

I, on the other wing, (sorry, it was right there) was having a hard time getting back to sleep. We had grown wings and we were in Max Ride. We'd probably be sprouting gills next. If we were here, and we were like staying, what was going on back home? October had a bunch of sisters and a brother. On the other hand, I was an only child. But still... Did our parents even remember, or did we just evaporate from that world? With all of those questions going through my head, I doubted I would be sleeping anytime soon. I wished I had a Voice that flicked a switch in my brain making me go to sleep. That was another thing! What were we going to do? I mean, obviously one of us was meant to help Max when she went to save Ella. I personally didn't want to get shot, and I doubted that October did, but how would we decide who would go? The telepathy would help . . . We knew everything that was going to happen . . . Maybe we could say that we were physic. Yeah, we'd be able to warn them a couple of seconds early. I groaned and shifted to my side.

"Violet?" I opened my eyes and sat up fast, almost hitting my head on the coffee table. "Oh! Sorry, it sounded like you were awake." Max was watching me from across the room, looking slightly worried. I yawned.

"No, I was awake." I stood up and looked at October. "She takes a while to get up." Max laughed and rummaged around the fridge, I knew she was wishing that the food fairies had come. I bent down next to October and shook her shoulder. "Coral, wake up!" she opened her eyes.

"M-Violet?"

"Huh, that was relatively easy." She sat up, rubbing her head.

"I had the strangest dream . . . We grew . . ." Obviously feeling the soft feathers in her back she twisted around. "Oh yeah, wasn't a dream."

"Hey Max, what's for. . . hey who are you!?" I turned and saw an adorable little kid, who reminded me too much of my brown-haired little cousin. The Gasman looked exactly as I imagined him to. Fluffy blond hair, big blue eyes, the works.

"I'm Violet, this is my sister Coral. We dropped in last night." The Gasman looked at Max who shook her head.

"Angel said they were OK. So, as for breakfast . . ." she glanced around helplessly.

"I'll poor juice," The Gasman offered, walking over to the fridge. Wham! Bang! I turned around.

"Oh, ow. Who moved the table next to the stairs?" Iggy was slowly picking himself up from his twisted position on the floor. October quickly jumped off the couch, because we knew that he was going to sit right where she was lying.

"Sorry, Iggy," Max said, hiding a smile. Like we'd predicted he walked over and flopped on the couch. Looking at each other and shrugging October and I each sat in a big comfy chair. "Floor comfortable?" he was looking somewhere slightly above my hairline.

"I've had worse," I said. "Why?"

"Because Nudge kicked me out of my room once and I had to sleep there," Iggy explained. "I know our floor is hard."

"Its wood, Ig," Max said. "Oh! Jeez! Fang!" I turned. Max was leaning back against the counter breathing hard. Fang was standing in the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest. "Would you stop that?"

"What, breathing?" October and I shared smiles.

"Make some noise when you move! Why can't you fall over a table like Iggy?"

"Hey!" I tried to smother my laughter behind my hand and noticed Gazzy doing the Marlenee. I had barely met him and I already liked the kid.

"So, you girls planning on staying for breakfast?" Fang asked, pushing Iggy aside and dropping down on the couch.

"Probably," October said. Iggy stood up.

"I'd better make the eggs, then." Max turned with a huff to go and wake Nudge and Angel, a typical morning for the Flock. Iggy falls over something, Gazzy pours juice, and Max and Fang argue again.

_This is so cool_, October said.

_Yeah, really. _

Angel came out of her room, up and dressed smiling in her angelic way.

"Hey guys! I knew you wouldn't leave!" she said, walking over to us.

"Why, we get a free meal," I said. Angel stretched out on the couch, her little socked feet on Fang's lap. Fang, who had been flipping through channels on the TV, only looked mildly surprised.

"Wait, that's a good show!" I said, putting my hand out to stop him. Fang flipped back a channel, but for some reason the station wasn't showing. It was flipping between sixty two and sixty four, sixty three was not to be seen.

"Weird," I said, as Fang kept flipping through channels. "Try going back now." He did, seeing as we had nothing else to do, this was oddly entertaining, and the channel was there.

"Station probably malfunctioned or whatever," October offered. Fang shrugged, determined on channel surfing. But the channel wouldn't change now. It was stuck on that one program.

"Why isn't it changing?" I asked. Fang angled the remote a different and jammed his finger down onto the channel flipper button. The program finally changed.

"OK, I vote turning off the TV," Fang said after a minute. October, Angel, and I quickly agreed.

_That was epic_, I said in my mind. _And weird. The TV doesn't usually freak out, and that's like one of the most popular stations. It's like the epic of all epicness. Now watch you say something random and completely off the topic. See I know October and how random she can be._

_Mac's are epic uber awesomeness on a stick!_

That quote, invented by one of our crazy-Mac-owning friends, always managed to crack me up.

"What?" Angel asked. "That was really weird; your minds went like blank for a minute."

"You can't hear us?" I asked. Angel shook her head. "That makes . . . sense." October nodded.

"See, we're telepathic, we can talk with each other through our minds." Just because we're awesome like that.

_Hey, Marlene, pickles are cucumbers soaked in evil, you can't eat them._

"What?" Max asked, coming back into the room with Nudge behind her. "You're telepathic?" October and I nodded in unison. Max sighed and shook her head.

"Violet, you can borrow one of my T-Shirts if you want," Nudge offered, looking at my long-sleeved sweater.

"Yeah, Coral, I have some cloths that should fit you," Max offered.

_Marlene, go, you'll look great in Nudge's clothes_. I looked at Nudge's v-neck top and short shorts.

"Come on!" Nudge said excitedly. I stood up, biting my lip.

"Sure." Now I knew I would adjust to Flock life quickly but I usually didn't wear short or low anything. Not like I was self conscious or anything . . .

Nudge threw open the door to her room, babbling about how I would look so great in this t-shirt she had with those shorts that were over there. God, we weren't even in New York and I was getting a makeover. Oops, I probably shouldn't have said that.

"Here! Take these! You're about my size, right? No you're a little taller. These should still fit. You don't wear clothes like these do you?"

"Not typically." _God, my mom would kill me if she saw me wearing this_. I thought, examining the bright purple T-Shirt with four buttons on the front.

"Here, put this under it and leave the buttons undone." She tossed me a slightly darker purple tank-top. "And these, they aren't as short as my other ones." Still relatively short black shorts with white stripes down the side.

"Thanks, Nudge, are you sure?" Nudge nodded.

"Try 'em on." Obediently I pulled off my sweatshirt and jeans replacing them with the tank top, t-shirt, and shorts. Well, I'll say one thing: it was a warm spring day and it felt good to be wearing a t-shirt.

"I don't know," I said, looking at myself in her full length mirror. "I'm not sure it's me." I unbuttoned the shirt and put my hands on my hips. "On second thought I might be able to get used to this." Nudge laughed.

"They look great on you! Really, that is so your style." I pulled at the bottom of the shorts.

"Got any jeans?" Nudge went and rummaged around in a large black wardrobe that was pushed against one wall. I waited, still looking at myself in the mirror.

"Ah ha! I knew these were here somewhere." She returned with a pair of faded jeans torn at both knees and low on the right thigh. Well, at least they weren't these shorts. "Used to be Max's, and then I made that there," she pointed at the one on the right thigh. "A few weeks ago when we were out flying."

"These are great," I said, taking the jeans. I slid out of the shorts - did I mention they were tight? - and pulled on the jeans. Zipping the fly, I examined myself in the mirror.

"Wow, you look awesome!" Nudge said. "Those jeans were, like, made for you." I shrugged, turning a little so I could see my profile. "How long do you think you guys are going to stay? Are you going to leave soon? I hope not, I've never met anyone like you guys. You're like interested in fashion but you're Max-like at the Marlenee time. Tom-boy I think. Yeah, and Coral looks like really Max-ish."

"She's got many sides," I said, sticking my hands into the pickets of the jeans. "Smells like Iggy's done with breakfast," I said walking out into the hallway. The door to Max's room opened and October stepped out. She was wearing a torn yellow shirt with a cream colored tank top underneath it and bootleg jeans.

"We've been Maxed out," she said solemnly, looking at me. I shrugged, walking in a circle around her.

"Where's you get fabric markers?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at the quote on her shirt. 'My word of the day is awesometastical'. "I don't think Max would have that shirt." October smiled proudly.

"Check out the back!" She turned and I squinted, trying to decipher her handwriting. 'I'm not random, you just can't think as fast as me.' I sighed.

"You're defacing Maximum property," I said, shaking my head. October laughed and went into the living room.

"Whoa! I thought you were Max for a minute," Gazzy said, looking at October. "Well except for the quotes and the hair . . ." He trailed off shaking his head and shoveling egg into his mouth.

"Where are you guys?" Iggy asked, leaning back against the counter and looking somewhere between October's head and my ear. Max set two plates down with a 'clunk', up wind of Gazzy I noticed.

"They're sitting here," she said. "So stop being a butler and eat!" October and I slid into our chairs and fell on the food. I hadn't noticed that (along with the wings) we'd also developed a birdkids apatite.

"Hey," Angel said, "I want to go out and pick strawberries." October and I looked at each other. "What?"

"Nothing," we said, going back to our food. Angel gave us a look but went back to what she was saying.

"Anyway, the strawberries are ripe."

"I'll go with you," Gazzy offered, innocently eating a piece of bacon

Max shrugged. "I guess we'll all go." October and I were silent.

_Should we stop them_? October's voice appeared in my head. I shook my head.

_Didn't we cover this last night?_

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**So, how did you like it? We have written around 17 chapters, but it's gonna take a while to post them all. I'm new to posting on FF ;D**

**R&R please!  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two! This one is written by me, October. Much shorter one due to the fact that this _is _my first fanfiction other then the book 6 spoof. :)  
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**Disclaimer: JP owns all. I own the writing ;)  
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Chapter Two

October's P.O.V

We flew into the field, my stomach feeling uneasy. And I didn't think it was the food. _Your thoughts are really jumbled_, Angel's voice said in my head. _What's wrong_? I quickly cleared my thoughts and thought about... anything else. Nothing. I swooped down and helped Angel pick strawberries while Marlene randomly wrestled with Gazzy. As far as I could tell, she was winning. I rolled my eyes and turned to see Angel angelically picking berries. Her wide blue eyes looked so innocent... I found myself thinking. Maybe we should stop-

_No_. Marlene growled in my thoughts and I scowled. The strawberries stained my fingers red and I couldn't help but think of blood. Blood. Fighting. Ari. Angel. GAH.

"Gazzy!" I yelped as the aforementioned dumped some strawberries on my head. I spun around to see him running away, laughing. I heard a voice and saw Iggy doubled over laughing too. I smirked before my wings sprung out and I flew toward Gazzy, dropping low enough to aim a kick at his butt. I laughed, then swooped over to Iggy. The rest of the Flock laughed as I crashed into him 'accidentally' and we fell over. I popped up and, laughing, flew away before he could retaliate.

_October! Eraser attack, remember? _Marlene interrupted my victory lap.

_Oh yeah, right._ I thought... sarcastically? Is that possible?

_Yeah, it is._

_Oh._

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2_

"Erasers!" Marlene screamed.

The entire Flock and I turned to see the scary, wolfish men dropping from the sky like snowflakes. Evil, murderous snowflakes. They had the element of surprise on their side. Well, for the flock at least.

Following Max's lead, we launched ourselves at the Erasers. I watched as Max aimed a roundhouse kick at the nearest and hit the target. Suddenly finding myself dog food, I took my eyes off of her and aimed a punch at the Dog-man. Let's just say, I didn't realize how tall he was. He chuckled as I hit his chest then he kicked the back of my legs and I flopped onto my butt. I felt something warm and moist on the back of my head where I hit it on the ground. He stood over me, saliva dripping off his fangs and sparkled in the sun. I sprang up and dodged his next punch. I aimed and kicked him where it hurt the most.

Mwah.

He groaned and I took the moment to my advantage. With a battle-cry that was totally movie-worthy, I launched myself at him and sprung onto his back. Snarling, he fell to the ground. He flipped over and I punched him in the face. He had just blacked out and I was feeling pretty proud, then the second came. Hairy arms circled my legs and pulled me upwards. I screamed and saw Marlene's eyes flick to me momentarily. She looked kinda upside down from this angle. The Eraser was holding me by the ankles, my head a foot from the ground. _Why the hell are they so tall?!_ I kicked and struggled for a moment but it only made him chuckle. I huffed angrily and folded my arms.

"Why Patterson, why did you make them so strong?!" I cried to no one in particular. Then I managed to swing my torso upwards and wham the Eraser with my butt. So there.

We fell backwards and he let out an 'oomph' as I landed on his chest, hopefully knocking the wind out of his lungs... again.

"Why are you kids so impossible?!" he growled, springing to his feet. "Why don't you just surrender like good little kids and nobody will get hurt."

Uh oh. Looks like someone is missing a few brain cells.

"One," I said, punching him in the face. My wings sprang out so I could reach it. "Why only be difficult when with a little more effort you can be impossible? It's so much more satisfying." He backhanded me in the chest and I gasped. Ouch. Taking advantage of my momentary distraction, he tried to punch my face but only succeed in scraping his long nails into my skin. I bit my lip in a effort not to cry out.

"Two," I continued, as though nothing had happened. "We're not good little kids." Blinking the blood from my eyes, I flipped over his head and kicked him in the back. He fell on his face and I landed on his back before he could get up.

"And three," I said, picking up a conveniently nearby rock. "I refuse to battle with one who is ill equipped with the skills and intelligence to actually do any harm." Well, except for my face. I smashed the rock on the back of his head and he blacked out. I felt something hot on the back of my neck. I spun around and a fist collided with my face. Blood clouded my eyes and I grabbed at my face. The Eraser grinned and pushed me over. I fell and he kicked me in the ribs. I gasped and he continued to punch and kick me. I kept trying to get up but the Eraser didn't stop. He kicked me hard in the head and everything went fuzzy. Then, if you put it in the cliché way, everything went black.

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**R&R please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three! Yay! **

**Thanks for the reviews! 3  
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**Chapter Three**

**Marlene's P.O.V.**

_October? _I whipped around and landed a kick in the huge chest of an Eraser. _October? _Seeing that I was distracted another Eraser kicked me in the ribs, sending me to my knees. Without really thinking I rolled to my back then rolled over my shoulder and out of the range of his huge boots. I somehow managed to trip another Eraser in the process of rolling back to my feet. So, seven years of Karate paid off huh? I glanced around, both Gazzy and Iggy were unconscious ad in danger of being trampled. Fang was lock in hand-to-hand with two Erasers, and October . . . well, October was out cold with an abnormally large Eraser looming over her. This small fact explained the absence of a voice in my head. If you thought that last sentence was weird just wait for the rest of the book.

"Yo! Dogface!" I yelled, tossing a rock at the Erasers head. It missed by a couple of inches, only clipping his shoulder. Hey, no one ever told me that I have perfect aim. I still got the Eraser's attention, so that was a plus. The bad part was that when he jumped over October to get to me I jumped back . . . and tripped over Iggy. The Eraser laughed and kicked my arms out from underneath me.

"MAX!" My head whipped around and saw Angel being stuffed into a rough sack. Max lunged at her, but two Erasers held her back. I knew what was coming next as a third Eraser stalked up and punched her in the face. Spitting blood, Max growled something I couldn't hear. _Angel, hang on! _I yelled in my head, struggling up from my current position of being sprawled over Iggy's legs. The Eraser who'd been threatening me had disappeared, never mind he was fighting with Nudge. I leapt to my feet and streaked after the Eraser who had Angel.

"What the-" An Eraser whipped around and grabbed my arm, still in the momentum of running you can imagine how well that went. I screamed, feeling my arm pop right out of its socket.

"Where you going, Girly?" Still holding my arm he yanked me back. "Who are you? I don't remember ever seeing you. . ."

"Sure," I hissed, twirling so my back was to him and kicking the heel of my foot between his legs. As October said:

Mwah.

Whatever victory I permitted myself quickly disappeared into the fact that my arm was dislocated and hanging limply at my side. Growling I snapped my wings open and once again took up my chase after Angel. Unfortunately an Eraser, whom I recognized as Ari, saw me and grabbed my leg. Yanking me back down he continued to grab my head and slam me into the ground. To tell you the truth, there's not much I remember after that.

* * *

"Violet? Violet?" I groaned mournfully and October snorted.

_Still think we should have let them take her?_ I opened my eyes and blinked a couple of times. October was sitting next to me, glaring. Slowly the Flock was waking up around us. Fang and Gazzy were leaning over Max, who had dried blood all over her face. Iggy and Nudge were nursing their wounds a little ways away. I tried to prop myself up but gasped when I stupidly put all of my weight on my dislocated left arm.

"What?" October asked, trying to keep up her appearance of being angry.

"Know how to relocate arms?" I muttered, pushing myself up with my left hand. October looked at me critically before deciding that my arm needed attention. Finally the Flock had remembered us and were dragging themselves over.

"What," Fang gasped. "The hell is with you girls?"

"Yeah, you appear outside and the next day we're attacked by Erasers!" Gazzy yelled.

* * *

**Next chapter up really soon! Maybe later tonight or tomorrow!**

**R&R please!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**October's P.O.V**

I shook my head. "Gazzy, trust me when I say the Eraser attack has nothing to do with us." He looked suspicious by thankfully dropped the subject. I looked down at Marlene who was trying her hardest not to move. I grasped her uninjured arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Holy butterscotch biscuits," she gasped as the dislocated arm swung slightly.

"We- we have to go after her," Max stuttered, leaning on Fang. I glanced at Marlene, meaning to give her a Look, but found her examining her broken arm.

"Before- before they-" Max continued, but didn't finish. Everyone was silent for a moment. "Who's up for a chase?" Max said. Choruses of 'I am' came from all of us except for Fang and Marlene. Fang because he's just like that, and Marlene... I actually don't- oh yeah.

"Can someone put my arm back in it's socket?" Marlene reminded everyone pitifully, grimacing as she lifted it up slightly. Iggy stepped forward and ran his slim fingers up her arm, feeling where it was broken. Then, quite unexpectedly, he jerked it and it let out a huge crack before sliding into place.

"...arms shouldn't make that sound." Marlene squeaked, gingerly taking her arm back. I cracked a grin, wiping my face with my sleeve and feeling it sting. "Thanks Iggy,"

"Yep," he said, managing a small smile. I turned to Max and saw her running to the edge of the cliff. She jumped off and her wings sprung out. Beautiful. She was followed by the rest of the Flock then Marlene. I waited until Marlene was in the air before following her, just to make sure she didn't drop like a stone. I ran to the edge and, trying not to think, jumped. The air rushed past my face and I nearly splattered on the ground before I managed to extract my wings. I swooped up and put on a burst of speed to reach the rest of the group.

The Flock had swooped low but Marlene was flying pretty slowly because of her arm. How that effected her flying was beyond me- but don't question it. I can totally use my uber writing skills against you.

Mwah.

Anyway, I swooped down, keeping an eye on Marlene and the other on the fight below. Fang was smashing the car's windshield with a huge branch he had gotten from... somewhere. I heard a random scream that became less random as the sounds of gunshots echoed through the forest. Fang shot into the air and stopped next to me.

"Angel!" I heard Max scream. "We're here! We're coming for you!" I glanced at Fang and saw he looked worried. _Don't worry, she won't do anything stupid_. I thought and thought I had said it. Then Fang glanced at me in confusion and I realized that I had sent the thought to him telepathically.

"ZOMG!" I gasped. _Marlene! I can send thoughts to other people other then you!_ I told her telepathically.

_Well, whoop-de-do. Why don't we make a cup of tea because we definitely don't have anything to do. I mean, it's not like we're in the middle of a freaking battle or anything like that._

_Oh. Right._

Fang and I nearly fell out of the sky as a huge chopper flew over out heads. Well, Fang nearly fell out of the sky. Not used to the whole flying thing, I actually did_. Hey, maybe a random knight in shining armor will pop out of thin air and save me_, I thought distractedly, trying to get my wings to work. It's amazing that I could still come up with remarks like that despite our situation. Huh.

My wings failed me and I crashed into a tree. The branches scratched my face as I fell- like I didn't have enough injuries already.

"STUPID TREE." I screamed, scrabbling at the branches. My fingers finally grasped one and I swung from it for a moment... before it snapped. I swore extremely loudly as I began to fall again. The branches hit and tossed me for another moment before I found myself falling through the air. Damn. My hair whipped into my face and as I reached up to brush it out of my eyes, I landed in a bush.

"STUPID BUSH."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Marlene's P.O.V

I glanced down and saw October sprawled on the ground, I zoomed in with my raptor vision and saw that she was actually sprawled out on a bush, and I'd thought the cursing in my head was just me.

_I really didn't think you would take that whole 'we've got nothing else to do' to heart, _I thought down to her_. I can't believe you are just lying around in the middle of one of the most important scenes in the first book!_

_Oh yeah, because it isn't like I already knew that! _October shot back, gingerly lifting herself from the bush and launching herself back into the air.

"Hey! Are you two even trying to keep up!?" Fang yelled, he and the rest of the Flock were already a ways away. They actually had their goals set on getting Angel, though you have to understand where October and I are coming from. I mean we know this isn't going to work, so don't blame us for not putting our full and entire effort into saving her now. Remembering something slightly key in this part of the book I whipped around.

"Nudge!" I screamed. "Dive!" Without really thinking Nudge dropped into a steep dive, Gazzy right behind her. Three seconds later the hand grenade that the Eraser had thrown out the Hummer's window exploded. Less than a minute after that Max dropped down, almost on top of me. I looked up and saw the helicopter zooming off into the distance.

_This isn't in sync with the book, _October said in my mind, finally having returned to the air. _Isn't that supposed to happen before Max tries to get Angel? _I gave her a sarcastic look, or the closest thing I could get to it.

"No, really, I didn't notice that. I actually thought that was supposed to come later." October rolled her eyes.

"At least it isn't the beach." I had many things to say to that, most of which I would have said if we weren't hovering in midair with the Max Ride Flock all staring at us.

_Next time we reach a book altering decision you are deciding. Because that could be marked as one of my less famous decisions_. I told her. October gave me a 'no really?' look.

_Deal, and that'll be easy because the next thing up is when Max saves Ella. I'll blow up that bridge when we come to it. _I glared at her.

_Silence! I kill you! _I would've made my voice very high if that was possible, but there were restrictions to talking telepathically.

_What?! _

I sighed. "And you say you watch YouTube." _Never mind. I will flay you with my writer's powers!_

"Come on," Max said, after we'd been silent for a minute. "Let's head back home. We've got a lot of planning to do . . . And you two . . ." She gave us very strange looks but couldn't find words to make her threat sound reasonable. That was a first.

The flight back to the E-shaped house was relatively silent. It felt like we were all being weighed down by what had happened, not to mention fact that they'd actually failed to save Angel the first time. October and I knew that all of this would happen, but actually seeing it was much worse than reading about it. I knew it would probably get over my feeling that we should've stopped the kidnapping, but for now I was still pretty mad at myself.

But off of this emotional crud, we'll have enough of that later.

Onto more painful topics my arm was really starting to bother me, which I was sure must be unnatural. Dislocating your arm and breaking it were two different things, and I knew for a fact that my arm shouldn't be hurting so much even after it was relocated. Since my arm was relocated somewhere around my shoulder, which had already been aching from the new muscles my wings had created, my flying was not as up to par as I wanted it to be. Meaning: I was falling behind.

_Come on, or the Erasers will get you_! October teased from up ahead where she was flying next to Iggy.

_I would like to see them try!_ I said, beating my wings harder to catch up with the Flock. Apparently October found this very funny, because she was trying very hard not to laugh. I didn't ask, because at the moment I was trying to focus on the first thing that came to my mind that wasn't my aching shoulder. Nudge dropped back and came up next to me, or as close as she could without our wings slapping each other.

"How'd you know about the grenade? You were facing the other way." I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

"I'm not sure," I said in a convincing imitation of being confused. "I just knew. Like how I knew about the Erasers a few seconds before they came . . . I just felt it . . ." If October got to put thoughts in peoples heads why couldn't I see the future? Even if it was just searching my mind for the details on what happened in the first Max Ride book.

"So you saw the future?" The usual enthusiasm was gone form Nudge's voice, it sounded like she was talking just to be polite if anything. I shrugged and winced, making a mental note that moving my shoulders probably wasn't the best idea. "Are you okay? That sounded really painful back there."

"Yeah, I think something's wrong with my shoulder, but I don't really know what." Nudge gave me a slightly worried look before speeding up to fall in line with the rest of the Flock. Blowing hair out of my face I followed her lead, dropping below October.

_So what's up with you_? I asked, dropping a little lower so my wings didn't hit Gazzy.

_Not much, talking with Iggy._

_In your mind? _Under other circumstances she probably would've attempted to kill me just because of the . . . tone of my thoughts? We figured out that was possible right? Well, anyway, until the Flock was relatively over losing Angel we wouldn't really be pretending to kill each other.


	6. Chapter 6

**Pretty short chapter today. :) Again, thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! I forward them all to Marlene and she sends back happy, squealing emails. **

**Disclaimer (Yeah... I keep forgetting these) I own nothing except the writing and October (seeing as that's me! Lol). Marlene also asked me to add in that sometimes in her chapters she has a quote or two (or three... or four) from a movie. Lmao. **

**I really liked you idea, Soccergal12, but it was easier to pretty much go with the original dialogue. Thanks for the suggestion though!**

**As usual, enjoy! 3  
**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**October's P.O.V**

Iggy howled and swept his hand over the kitchen table, causing a mug to fly through the air and smash me in the back of the head.

"Watch it, idiot!" I growled instinctively. Hey, wasn't it suppose to hit Fang? Huh, how do I even remember that detail? Weird. Oh, great. Now I'm talking to myself. La la la la-

_Shut up! _Marlene yelled at me telepathically. I glanced as her and saw she was rubbing her forehead like she had a headache. Whoops.

Max moved next to Gazzy and started to bandage his wounds. Marlene moved next to Nudge and started wiping her face with a cloth from the first aid kit Max was using.

"You watch it!" Iggy retorted furiously, still pacing. "At least you can see! Why didn't you save Angel!?"

"Hey!" I shouted.

"We couldn't have!" Gazzy said, coming to my rescue. "They had guns. And a chopper!"

"Stop!" Max shouted over him. Then she seemed to deflate a little. "Just- just let me think." Everyone was silent. Marlene went back to dressing Nudge's wounds and Iggy plopped down on the couch and I scooted over so he wouldn't sit on me.

"Sorry," he muttered. Tears glistened in his blind eyes but he wiped them away quickly.

" 's O.K," I muttered, looking at the floor. What the fnick? Why was this upsetting me so much?! I knew she would be OK in the end!

"Take deep breaths," I heard Gazzy say and I knew he was talking to Max. The smell of ravioli filled my nostrils as Fang opened it clumsily with a bandaged hand.

I wiped my face and found blood on the back of my hand. I got up gingerly - my ribs ached - and swiped the first air kit, placing it on the coffee table and sitting back down. I absentmindedly wiped a soft cloth over my face, removing the blood, then placed it back on the table. The medicine on the swab stung terribly but I bit my lip and proceeded.

"Iggy?" I said to him and handed him a long bandage- I couldn't do it myself without a mirror. He leaned forward and put his hand on my shoulder, feeling his way up to my face and feeling the cut with his long fingers. I closed my eyes and he wrapped it around my forehead, also around the cut on the back of my head. This boy will never cease to amaze me.

"Hey, Coral, do I have a huge bruise on my face?" Marlene asked. When Iggy was done I turned and gasped as my bruised ribs let out a burst of pain. I clenched my teeth and looked at Marlene who did indeed have a huge bruise on her cheek.

"Yeah, you do." I said softly and turned back to my original position gently, gritting my teeth at the pain.

"They could have killed her. Killed us. But they didn't." Nudge pointed out. "So they must want her alive for some reason."

Gazzy's voice was shaky. Angel was his only biological relation after all. "They had choppers. They could be anywhere. Like China."

Max ruffled his hair affectionately. "I don't think their in China, Gazzy."

"I think we all know where they took her." Fang interrupted.

"Where's that?" Iggy said, I looked at him and saw his eyes were bloodshot from crying. I wanted to hug him… but didn't obviously. Marlene groaned telepathically.

"The School," I said with Fang and Max.

And, as you can imagine, that went over like-

'_-a ton of freaking bricks.' _Marlene finished the quote for me. I shot her a Look and she smirked.

* * *

Nudge gasped and the reaction was pretty much the same around the room.

_How can their reaction be this? _Marlene asked me. _I mean, it's kind of obvious_.

_To you it is, _I teased. _Seeing as you can see the future and such._

Then I discovered it was possible for someone to give someone else a telepathic raspberry.

"…They took Angel back to the School?" Gazzy whispered, confused. Max nodded solemnly.

"And, no, Nudge. They haven't forgotten you guys." I said as Nudge opened her mouth.

"They'll never forget you." Marlene said.

_Uh- were kinda stealing other people's lines_… I said.

_Oh, yeah. Right. _

"Jeb knew they would do anything to get us back." Fang explained. "If anyone discovered what they did to us, it would be the end of the School."

* * *

**Sooooooo, likey? If you liked it, review. If you hated it, review. Flames, however, will be peed on by Pink Vader. Beware. **

Dialogue


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone!**

**So, I'm so glad so many people are liking this story! Marlene and I are thrilled. **

**...Well, at the moment _I _am. Marlene is convinced that her chapters suck, so GIVE HER SOME LOVE IN REVIEWS, PEOPLE! HER CHAPTERS DO NOT, and I repeat, DO. NOT. SUCK! **

**Disclaimer: Yadayadayadayada, I own _nothing_. Belongs to JP and Marlene. Marlene stole some quotes so this is a disclaimer for them too ^^ **

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Marlene's P.O.V**

Well, the preparations were of tedious proportions. As most of you I hope will know Iggy and Gazzy were left behind whilst Max, Fang, and Nudge went to find Angel. But there was the not so small problem of me and October to attend to.

Now, Fang, being himself, was pretty convinced that we were the ones who brought the Erasers here. Though, he didn't say it in so many words. On the other hand, Max, Nudge, and, oddly enough, Iggy, thought that we were completely innocent. We didn't look like the type of people who would lure Erasers to a Flock of teenage birdkids. Besides that slightly important fact Angel had liked us (a sob from Nudge), and no one had ever been able to fool Angel. Not like there was anyone who would fool her, but the concept was the same. So for now we were cleared of all charges and the left the problem of what to do with us. I was torn, going would be awesome but if I stayed I would be able to blow up a whole bunch of Erasers. October was convinced (and I mean _really convinced_) that we should go with Max and the others. I had a feeling that October would win that battle, so I didn't argue. Just as a note, all of this was reviewed in October and my head before Fang had even brought out the maps, well except for debating if October and I were pawns of the School. That happened after we decided that Angel was being taken to said place.

"Eeeewww," Nudge said. "What are those?" Fang had dropped a pile of old papers, covered in mouse droppings, on the counter. Max was staring at them with a sort of 'lost hope' look in her eyes. But this is Maximum Ride we're talking about, so that lasted all of point two seconds.

"Jeb's old papers," she said, taking half of the stack and looking through them. Fang went to work on the other half, I knew what they were looking for.

When Jeb had left, yes, hear me say it plainly- _he left_, Max had cleared out his desk so they didn't have to look at it everyday. They shoved all of the papers and files into the very back of a closet again so they wouldn't have to look at them. Hence the mouse poop and such.

"Here," Fang said, holding up a sealed manila envelope. Max nodded and Fang popped open the seal.

"What's that?" Gazzy asked, leaning over the table too look. _Is he even supposed to be here? _I asked. October rolled her eyes.

"It's a map," Max said. "Of a secret facility in California . . ." Fang spread the map out on the table and everyone leaned in for a closer look. Well, everyone except Iggy who, obviously, wouldn't be benefited by leaning forward because he couldn't see.

"The School," October and I said at the same time. Max nodded conformation, like we actually needed it. October glanced at me but I pretended not to notice.

"So what are we going to do?" Gazzy asked, trying to get a closer look at the map. Max pushed him away and moved the map closer to me and October.

"Actually you and Iggy are going to stay here. The rest of us-" She gestured at me, October, Fang, and Nudge. "-are going to find Angel." Well that was another "ton of freaking bricks" moment.

"What?!" Iggy yelled, walking over and pounding his fist on the table.

"Look, guys-" Max started but she was cut off.

"She's my sister!" Gazzy yelled. "Why can't I go and rescue her!"

"Gazzy, ever thought that if they wanted Angel so much they might just want you just as bad?" I asked quietly. "I mean, it makes the most sense for you to stay here. You know, hold the fort down, keep the Erasers away." I shrugged. "I mean, it could be just as interesting here." I got a whole bunch of odd looks. "What?"

"Well it makes sense for Gazzy to stay, but what about me?" Iggy complained. _October, tell him things will be plenty interesting around here. _I suggested, since October had the mind-talk power thing. October gave me one of her famous Looks but complied. Did I mention that I could hear what she was sharing with people?

"What kind of interesting?"

"Your kind," I assured. "You'll have plenty of fun."

_Besides, it isn't like they aren't going to join us anyway._

_I take it that wasn't meant for sharing? _

I sighed and adjusted the map so I could better look at it. Both Iggy and Gazzy seemed convinced that staying wouldn't be as bad as it sounds, for now.

* * *

**R&R please! The little green...ish button is slightly lonely! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Whoa, really short chapter. I apologize. ^^; Thanks for all the reviews! **

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**October's P.O.V**

We were back in the air and I was less then happy about it. Let me spell it out for you:

Cons

(I'm putting them first because I'm just awesome like that)

I was already tired, hungry, and _broken_.

We were headed toward the fnicking School.

Marlene was reading all my thoughts.

I kept slipping up and nearly calling Marlene, Marlene.

Iggy, Gazzy and Angel weren't here.

Pros

...

...

...

I had wings.

...

I was alive.

Now, seriously, what kind of pros are those?

_October... are you talking to yourself again? This is getting worrisome._

_...GET THE FNICK OUT OF MY HEAD!_

She got out. But for whose knows how long?

"So are we clear on plan B?" Max asked abruptly.

"Nope," I said, covering my eyes with my hand as we flew towards the sun, south- southwest.

T_elekinetic eye roll._

_See?! Told you._

"Uh-huh. If we get separated somehow- though I don't see how we could- do you think it could happen? I haven't ever been inside a cloud. I bet it's creepy. Can you see anything inside a cloud-"

I turned just in time to see Max shoot Nudge a look and she promptly shut up.

"Aaanyway..." Marlene said.

"Yeah. So. If we get separated and not lost in a cloud," Max shot Nudge another look and Fang smirked. Huh. Fang showed emotion. Two points for him. "We meet up the north-most point of Lake Mead."

I raised my hand.

"Yes Coral?" Max sighed.

"Where's the School?"

"In Death Valley, eight miles due north from the Badwater Basin."

"Where's the Badwater-"

"Coral, shut up."

* * *

"Well, on the plus side, flying is really cool!"

"No fnick!" I replied to Max's statement to Fang. Marlene smiled and I could tell she agreed. Max and Fang continued to talk but I didn't bother listening; I already knew what they were going to say.

"Max?"

_Everyone is gone, everything seems wrong. _I moaned in my head. _Sobcrysobcrysobcry._

_Pay attention_! Marlene scolded me. What can I say? She's better at the whole 'plot' thing.

"Yeah?"

"Well... I was thinking..." A very dangerous pastime. "I mean, right before we left? I just looked at Jeb's old files- ya know? And some of them were about us. Or me. I saw my name on a page, my real name, Monique, and then, like, some people's names and then- Tipisco, Arizona. Tipisco is right on the Arizona-California border- I found it on the map. Real tiny town, it looked like. Anyway, I was thinking, none of us even knew our real parents, and, ya know, we've always wondered, or at least I mean I've always wondered, but I guess the rest of you have too, like, whether they gave me up voluntarily or whether-"

Max finally interrupted her.

"Nudge. I know how you feel. But those names might not have anything to do with you. We don't know if we were just test-tube babies or what. Please. Let's just focus on Angel."

As I so masterfully predicted, Nudge didn't answer.

"Nudge?" I asked. Then I had a sudden urge to say 'squirrel'... odd.

[insert mental groan from Marlene here]

"Yeah. It's ok. I was just thinking."

* * *

**R&R please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I am SO SORRY for not updating! D: I've been so busy I forgot! I apologize!**

**Here's a nice long chapter for you, to make up for it. You can thank Marlene ;)  
**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**Marlene's P.O.V**

I glanced sideways at October. _When are we going to stop at the cabin? _I asked in my head. She started cracking up.

_Did you just whine?_

_You can't quote yourself! That is so unfair_! October rolled her eyes but was still laughing. I sighed, figuring it was time to give the story a little push in the right direction. AKA: I was hungry so we would get food.

"Hey, Max!" I called up to her. She slowed a little so she was closer to me. "There's a ski resort a mile or so from here. It's summer so it's gonna be empty. I have a feeling we're going to stop there."

_Heavy on the hints much?_

It took all of my limited self control to not tell October to shut up. Max gave me a long, slightly disbelieving look, then she seemed to remember my claim of being physic.

"Yeah, I'm so hungry I could eat . . . Whatever that is." Nudge was pointing at a very strange looking bird who (or that?) was flying along beside us. Max nodded slowly and pulled up ahead again.

"OK, so who's up for a little breaking-in-and-entering?" The question was directed at all of us, but she was looking at Fang. He shrugged a shoulder and swooped down into a dive. Two seconds later he pulled up, nodding.

"There's a ski slope up ahead," he confirmed. "Looks like they're using it for hiking now."

"It'll be empty," I assured them, using my raptor vision to zoom in on the cabin we were going to break into. Excuse me, use as a temporary rest stop.

We started into a dive, heading into the woods that skirted the slopes. Max, Fang, and Nudge landed gracefully on the ground. I was on my way to a graceful landing until October almost squashed me flat. Ahem, so after that interesting little mishap we headed towards the little one-story Cape Cod style houses. As I had wonderfully predicted they were abandoned, empty, no one was there. [Insert evil laugh about now.] We walked up to the window and, after Max checked to see if there was an alarm (which there wasn't), we went to work on getting in. Now, I could go into a long detailed monologue about how we illegally got into the house . . . or you could just read the original Max Ride book for more details. Anyway, in short Fang jiggled the window until it unlocked, Max magically produced a knife (WTF from October), and did some fancy knife work on the screen. So, after she laid the now cut up screen next to the house, we gave each other a leg up and shimmed into the house.

_Do you hear something? _October asked, pretending to tilt her head so she could listen.

_Uhhhh . . ._

_Food glorious food! Don't care what it looks like! _Was it possible to gag in your head? You'd be surprised at how unlimited telepathic talking was.

_Hey, don't diss the mind control._

_It isn't mind control! It's like fnicking IM, only in your head! _October tossed her hair of her shoulder and, impersonating some star I didn't know, stalked over to the kitchen where she proceeded to yank open cupboard after cupboard. All of these, I might add, were filled with perfectly edible, if not a little old, canned food.

Whilst Max and October made whatever they could of the canned food, Fang and Nudge explored the house, looking to make sure it was really empty. Of course, there wasn't a car in the parking lot and it was summer and we'd been extremely quiet but there still could be some random hobo who also thought this would be a nice place to sleep.

Don't question the hobo, just go with it.

So, since everyone besides myself was doing something useful I decided to do a tiny bit of exploring myself. That is, in the depths of the little table next to the couch.

_What the heck are you doing? _October asked, I heard a dull fizzing sound as she popped open an old can of orange soda.

_Looking for something._

_No fnick. What are you looking for?_

"Hey, Max!" I called, finding what i was looking for. "How large does an item have to be before it's illegal to take?" Max whipped around so fast that she almost dropped the can of ravioli she was holding.

"What are you- Oh. Um. They wouldn't miss that. Besides they're only what . . . two dollars? Three?" I smiled. "Where are you going to put that?"

"Jeans have pockets," I said. "And this windbreaker you let me borrow has zippered pockets." Max sighed and waved her free hand in a 'do as you wish' way. Laughing evilly, I stretched myself out on the wooden floor of the little living room and started doing what I did best: playing cards. OK, so maybe it wasn't the best of hobbies, but I grew up with a card-playing Italian family. In short: I learned from the best.

_I'm standing here, slaving away at the kitchen and you are playing cards?_

_Yep, aren't I wonderful?_

_The best. _

"Watcha playing?" Nudge asked, walking over and sitting next to me. "Ooooh, that looks like fun! Is it fun? It's looks like a big circle! Is it a clock? Is that why the numbers are all placed like that? What are the kings for? Why are they in the middle? what happens when you run out of cards in the middle pile?"

"Want to play?" I asked, flipping over the last card and putting it into place. Guess what! I lost this round. "Okay, so its called Around the Clock. You know the values of the face cards, right?" Nudge shook her head. I sifted through the deck so I could find one of each face card. "You have a lot to learn, Young Grasshopper." I cleared my throat. "So the ace, which is this one here, has the value one. Don't ask me why it's just like that. Then, working our way up, the Jake, that small red man, is eleven. That's because it comes right after the ten, it only makes sense. The queen is twelve, seeing as it comes after the jack, so the king is thirteen. Which is why, in this game, it is in the center. In general the ace beats everything, ace takes all. Got it so far?"

"Ace is one and it is the highest card. Jack is eleven, queen is twelve, and king if thirteen because they all come after each other. Why-"

"I don't know why they're face cards and not regular numbers, Nudge. So, to play this game you do this." As I dealt out the cards, four in each pile - thirteen piles in all, I told her how to play. Around the Clock was a relatively simple, if not a time consuming and frustrating, card game. Then again that is true for most card games after you know how to play them. With this game all you had to do was flip a card and place it next to its corresponding pile. If you got a king it went in the center and you took from the center pile. When you ran out of cards in the center pile the game was over. I also showed her how to play Corner Solitaire, four across and unlimited down. You goal is to get all of the cards into the left most corner. I think it's un-winnable, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. Regular Solitaire, which wasn't as fun as Corner in my opinion, but Nudge seemed to enjoy it. And I was just getting around to the basics of poker when Max game over and waved a can of steaming hot ravioli under our noses.

"Hungry, Card Shark?" October called from the other room where she sat, devouring whatever was the contents of the can in front of her.

"You bet!" I said, picking up the cards, putting them in their box, slipping that box into a zippered pocket, and walking over to the kitchen area. Fang and October were already on their second can each of corn when Nudge and I sat down.

"I wonder what Gazzy and Iggy are doing," Nudge said, digging her fork into a can of re-fried beans. "They really weren't happy about getting left behind."

_No fnick_, October muttered.

_Wow, we really over use that word._

"Maybe someone should check in on them," I suggested lightly, kicking October under the table. She almost choked on her corn but managed to chug some of her soda.

"Why ya'll lookin' at me?" She asked when she got over a coughing fit. "Hey, I was the one who suggested we come with you guys in the first place! No way I'm going back, I want to save Angel too!"

"But someone should go back and see what they're up to!" Nudge said, making it obvious that it would not be her. No one bothered suggesting Max go, because she was the leader and we would be at complete and total loss without her. Ha, don't tell her I said this but with a little practice I could probably lead the Flock. But then again I had crazy weird mother animal instincts and five years practice of being a leader of a pack behind me. Fang was Fang, plus Max would probably die if he left. And on top of those he would have no idea what to do when he got back to Gazzy and Iggy.

"I'm not going," I said. "They need me here. Like hello, early warning system!" I gestured at myself, then took a huge mouthful of ravioli. October growled rather impressively, but seeing as she had lost this battle and having no good reason to not stay was defeated.

_Besides, you get to blow up Erasers! _I thought encouragingly.

_They could use you as an early warning system, you know you could tell them before the Erasers corner them in the old tree house thing or whatever that is._

_I'd be more of a use here. Assuring them that Max isn't going to die, comforting Nudge when she thinks that Fang left her, gently telling her that the search for her mom is going to be a bust. You know, sentimental things that I am just wonderful at_. By this time October was giving me an oh-so-intelligent "a whaat'?" look. I resisted the urge to say "a tiger shark" which made me smile. And we all know that very few things make me smile.

_Quoting you: telekinetic eye roll._

"Since when are you good at that stuff," October muttered, my little Jaws quote mini-obsess had never happened. I grinned wider

_You'd be surprised at the mother bear instincts I've gotten fro so many generations of fiercely protective and sarcastic Italian house wives_. October was probably scarred for life about now.

"Fine," she grumbled. "But you all owe me, you all owe me big!" Max nodded.

"Home isn't all that far from here. You should leave now if you want to get there before night." October looked longingly at the cans of food in front of her, but Max was right and neither of us were probably ready for long-distance flying in the dark, at least when we were alone it probably wasn't a good idea. She stood up.

"Okay, I'm leaving, I'm leaving. I'll see you guys later." _Yep, see you in a couple of days. Have fun blowing stuff up!_

"Oh shut up!"

"I don't shut up, I grow up! And when I look at you, I throw up! Aghh." I pointed my fork at my mouth.

"Yeah, then your mother comes around the corner and she licks it up," October retorted and about a second later she got very confused. "Did I really just say that? I don't even know what it means!"

_Yeah, I was wondering when you would figure that out._

_Grr._

"You read my mind," I said, grinning down into my third can of corn. "It's the next quote."

"OK, leave before she has us all quoting Stand By Me," Fang said. I stared at him, my jaw dropping. "What? It's on TCM all the time." October started slowly backing towards the window.

"Okay, I'll be taking my leave now. You guys have fun. Don't kill anyone without me." With that she turned and pulled herself up and out the window. Three seconds later we heard a fwoosh as the opened her wings and took off, heading for the Flock's home.

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**Please review! 3**


	10. Chapter 10

**I apologize for not updating! I'm really busy right now! I'm trying to finish up editing my novel so I can ship it out and... yeah. Sorry. *looks sheepish* :3**

**Well, this chapter is by me, enjoy!  
**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

**October's POV**

Gr.

Gr.

Gr.

And that's about the contents of my brain right now, in case your wondering. Oh, wait, one more.

Gr.

Ok, I'm done for now. So, while Marlene gets to stay with Max, Nudge and Fang and be awesome, I get to go back and get Iggy and Gazzy. Oh yeah, and I have to make sure I don't get there right when there detonating the bomb. Yeahhhh... that would be hard to explain. Plus, it would be a teensy bit difficult to tell them were the rest of the Flock was if I was in a couple thousand pieces. Not. Amusing.

Anyway, I was nearly back to the E house. I was getting used to flying, but still felt sick when I looked down. One who does not have DNA altered to have wings will never get used to flying. In short, me. A couple of minutes ago a huge flock of birds started to fly next to me, but I sped ahead of them when they started to crowd me. Stupid birds. I was soaring high above a forest and the trees flashed past, then I realized that I don't really have any 'special powers'. Will I ever get any? I mean, I have wings, don't I? We seem to kinda get what we want in this story. Or at least what it takes to make us fit in. Fit in, haha. If I was in Artemis Fowl or something and I had wings, I would be locked up in a fnicking cell. Evil genius, my foot. Or... wing. I guess. Huh, I wonder if I could get myself into the Artemis Fowl series. I mean, I'm here, aren't I? I wonder-

_STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF AND GET TO WORK._ Marlene's voice screamed in my head and I nearly fell out of the air in surprise.

_Stop talking to me and you get back to work! _I retorted, flying upwards to where I had been before Marlene so rudely interrupted my thoughts. _Don't you have some comforting to do or something? At the very least you could start making up blog names or something..._

_What the fnick are you talking about?!_

_Huh. We really do abuse the word 'fnick'. Poor Fangles..._

_Fangles?! Did the boys hit you with their huge bomb or something?!_

_Bomb?!?! Where- oh yeah._

[insert a stream of colorful words from Marlene here]

_Hey! Your pissing off the censors! See? That purple monkey at the desk? He looks plenty pissed, doesn't he?_

_Oh, for crying out loud! Can't you-_

Suddenly a small bomb exploded in midair, just a couple feet from me.

"HOLY CRAP." I yelped and flew back up. Again. Huh. When did I get to the house? Sure enough I was hovering above and in front of the E house and I'm pretty sure I could see two figures in one of the windows. Below me, I could see many Erasers and a couple cars. Stupid Erasers!

My shouted 'holy crap' must have somehow translated into my thoughts because Marlene's voice started up again.

_What the heck?! Keep it down, won't you? Your stressing my eardrums!_

_It's in your head, dummy. And I'm so sorry if I yelled. Not like I just nearly blew up or anything!_

_OhmygodI''tdiek?Iwillmissyouremails-_

_I get it! I'm kinda busy here, trying not to be blown to smithereens, so if you don't mind..._

Marlene left.

I soared downwards and closer to the front of the house. Sure enough, I spotted two blond heads at an open window. Growling, a swooped forward, waving my arms.

"Guys! It's me! O-Coral!" I swore under my breath at my mistake and flew closer cautiously. No use getting blown up when I was so close.

* * *

"What was that?" Iggy asked, pausing as he held up another grenade.

"The sound of a beautifully executed, well made bomb exploding," Gazzy replied happily, his eyes closed in contentment. Iggy growled and put the bomb down.

"No, I could of swore I heard someone shout 'holy crap' after the bomb exploded. I don't think an Eraser would do that."

Gazzy and Iggy exchanged a look- well, Iggy did the best he could- and jumped to their feet.

"What do you see?!" Iggy yelled to Gazzy. Gazzy squinted in the sunlight and gasped.

"Iggy- it's Coral!" he told him. And sure enough, it was me. Little me, waving my arms and praying to Zeus that they wouldn't throw another bomb.

* * *

Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID BIRDKIDS. GAH. I finally was able to soar to the house as they started waving to me. They jumped aside as I leapt through the window. I was planning on a smooth landing but my plans don't usually work out, as we have already established.

I accidentally caught the windowsill with my foot and did a somersault in the air before landing on the floor with an oof. I was flat on my back with my head near the window.

"Hullo," I croaked, sitting up and holding my head.

"Uh... Hi?" Iggy replied in confusing, sticking out his hand to help me up... which I refused.

"What are you doing here?" Gazzy demanded, folding his arms and looking adorable.

_Uhhhhh, October? I just caught the last part of that sentence... care to explain._

_...Gazzy_. I thought back to her. God, that girl just keeps popping into my head at the most random times!

"...Coral?" Iggy asked. I jumped up, realizing that I had been staring into space for a moment. I brushed off my pants.

"So, what's going on here!" I asked, trying to figure out what part of the book I was at. Gazzy rolled his eyes.

"There are Erasers just beyond those trees. They've set up a camp. We-"

"Are going to blow them sky high, I know." I finished for him, slightly impatient. Iggy rolled his eyes too.

"Please, don't tell me you've developed the ability to see the future like Violet." he groaned. I smiled a toothy grin.

"Oh, you just wait. I have powers you wouldn't believe," I bragged. Marlene groaned in my head and, with a little concentration, I discovered that I could create a 'mind barrier' and block her out. Ha. I could imagine a little chibi Marlene banging on a frosty-clear wall with her fists. Mwahaha....

"Coral? Are you drunk?" Gazzy asked as Iggy snapped his fingers in front of my face. Embarrassed, I sprang into action.

"I swear to drunk I'm not God!" I practically shouted and marched downstairs with the boys jogging after me. "So, where's the bomb?" Gazzy raced to catch up with me.

"Well, we have it downstairs. We are going to plant it tonight."

"Don't worry," said Iggy. "We have it all planned out. We don't need a girl to help us, do we Gaz?" They high-fived each other and I punched Iggy in the face. Not hard enough to break anything- God knows we don't need that- but it would hurt.

"Oh, sorry I was trying to high-five you too but I ended up high-fiving your face. Whoops!" I laughed shortly yet evilly and stalked into the kitchen.

_Marlene, I will kill you._

_

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**Reviews are chocolate! Please keep 'em coming! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven **

**Marlene's POV**

We were flying again, and I was less than happy. Do I remind you of someone? Yeah, I didn't think so. Now, I'm not one for pros and cons lists because I go into too much detail but as long as I'm quoting October . . .

Pros

(I'm putting these first just to be different)

I had wings

I was alive

I had a deck of cards in my pocket

I . . . Am at the wrong point in the book. Now, how many of you caught that? Huh? Huh? Anyone?

Jeez, you guys really need to brush up on your Maximum Ride history. As the few of you who have actually read the book know we were no where close to being in the air again. Actually after October left we continued to stuff ourselves with food until we finally couldn't eat anymore. What a refreshing feeling!

"I'm stuffed," Fang announced, dropping his fork into an empty can.

"No fnick," I muttered. "Alright guys, who's up for a bit of R&R?"

"Are you kidding?! We have to go and save Angel!" Max said. "Besides, didn't we clarify I was the leader of the Flock?" I smiled sheepishly and mentally slapped myself.

_Ow, _October muttered in my head. Then she laughed evilly. _So how does it feel to have me popping up in your head? Huh? Botherbotherbother..._

I skillfully ignored October and continued my reply to Max's, -shall we say territorial for lack of better word?- statement.

"Sorry, Max. I, uh, just know we're gonna hang out here for a while." Stupid future seeing! Stupid memory! Stupid book!

_Wow, hold up girl. You're beginning to sound like me._

"Oh, right," Max said, glowering at me in a 'keep your thoughts to yourself' way. I needed to find a way to express my visions without sounding all leaderly . . . Or Max was going to have to relax (haha, that rhymed!) her guard a tinsy itty bit. Ha! Maximum Ride never drops her guard! So I would need to get over my own leaderly instincts.

_Lemme guess_, October said dryly. _You were like a lioness or something in another life. Right?_

_I think I was a wolf. And I was pack leader whatever I was._

_Yeah, whatever you say. -_

_Don't you have Erasers to blow up?_

"Uh, Violet? Hello?" Nudge poked me with the non-pointy tip of her fork.

"Huh?! Oh, sorry! M-y head is being taken over by Coral's thoughts." I smiled and scraped the bottom of the can for whatever was left. There wasn't any. How could I eat so much?! I was, like, beating Daniel! And he ate everything!

"What are they doing?" Max asked sounding a bit worried. She should be more than a bit worried. I tilted my head to the side.

"Right now? They are potting revenge against us. You know, Iggy and Gazzy because we left them Coral because we made her go back?" Max nodded looking convinced.

"Hey, Max, I think Violet is right." Say whaaaa'? "We aren't going anywhere on full stomachs. Besides, we need to rest up before we can go and get Angel." The longest speech I'd ever hard Fang make. Brownie points for him. Max looked a little taken aback but after a minute nodded.

"Guess so. Okay guys! Pick your couch! Rest up! We leave in an hour!" Yeah right, I might as well take over the bedroom- Heey. Not a bad idea, Marlene. Yes I know, thank you Marlene.

_You're talking to yourself._

_Nope, I'm talking to you._

"No one would be offended if I took the bedroom, right?" I asked, standing up and grabbing the box of cards.

"We won't be staying that long," Max said.

"Okay dokey," I agreed in a 'you keep on thinking that' tone. "Anyone know what time it is?"

_The time is know_.

"Gee, thanks Yoda!" I said out loud. Everyone stared at me, like I belonged in some sort of wacky shack or something. "Sorry."

"Are you sure Coral isn't killing anyone?" Nudge asked. I nodded.

"I'm sure. Well, she isn't killing Gazzy and Iggy if that's what you mean."

"It's about three thirty, maybe four," Fang guessed. He glanced around and saw the clock above the oven. "Scratch that; it's five." So we get up at about oh-dark-thirty which roughly translates to five AM?

_Very good! You are a Maximum Ride math speech . . . Uh person._

_Wow sad. OK, so I get about . . . OMG! I'! Hahahaha!!!!_

"What's going on now?" Nudge asked, looking at me like I was some sort of TV show.

"Coral just punched Iggy, nothings broken. But it must've hurt." Nudge flinched. "And now . . ."

_Something about an anti-perv closet! _October jumped into my head. _And an emo corner! _

"Something about a take-over-the-world corner."

_Wonder if it belongs to Angel..._ October muttered.

"Take over . . . The world? Gazzy, Iggy, and Coral? Oh God, we're doomed," Fang said.

"Yeah, probably. Come on guys, let's clean this up and then get some shut eye." Max stood up and gathered as many cans as she could hold. I took the rest and we dumped them in the recycling bin in one corner of the room. (Insert Dr. M. screaming STOP THE MADNESS! Sorry... you don't know what that means.)

"Ok," Nudge said, standing up and proceeding to flop onto the nearest recliner chair. "This ones mine." Fang stood up and walked over to one of the smaller-ish couches (there were two couches and two recliner thingies). Max and I glanced at each other and I gestured at the couch.

"I'll take the recliner."

"Fair warning, I have intense dreams that I'm killing Erasers, so if you hear screaming or find that you are suddenly being punched and kicked . . . It's probably me," Nudge said through a yawn. I dragged the recliner far away from her and dropped into it. Using my epic balance skills (hey, where'd I get those?) I pushed out the little foot rest thingy and leaned forward without making it push back in. I started on a game of Corner Solitaire.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

October's POV

"That'll hold a bit."

Gazzy, Iggy and I stepped back to admire our handiwork, Iggy twisting the wire one more time before tucking the pliers in his pocket. Why on earth were we, uh, was I, letting the blind mutant freak set it up? Go figure. I have found myself thinking that phrase a lot after meeting Iggy. However, I must admit, as annoying as the two were, they were geniuses.

"Can we go now? I'm exhausted." I complained. I totally deserved a rest after flying dozens of miles, nearly getting blown up, helping an eight-year-old and a blind kid make a bomb, then fly through the woods in the middle of the night and set it up. Thanks so much, Marlene.

_Hey, no problem, _came her -slightly sleepy - reply. Curse her. I replaced the mind block as we took off into the night sky. I hoped the plan would still work even though I was here. Our dark clothes (obviously taken from Fang's room) made us invisible in the sky. My wings, however, would not cooperate. Keeping them from glowing took more concentration then I was capable of. So I flew nearer to the trees while the boys were a hundred feet above me. Stupid wings. Wait, scratch that, Stupid glowy substance that causes my wings to glow. Stupidstupidstupid.

"We've covered the ways in and out," Gazzy said, the two swooping down to where I was flying.

"I'm bummed we couldn't use the Big Boy," Iggy said sadly.

"I'm not surprised..." I grumbled. "Tell me, do you name all your bombs?"

Iggy smirked and looked forward. "Wouldn't you like to know."

* * *

Trust me, sleeping in a tree was not an activity you want to experience. Or one I want to repeat, for that matter. I was woken up before the crack of dawn by nearly falling out of the tree, again. Balance on a horse, check. Balance sleeping in a tree, not check.

"Come on, come on," Gazzy was murmuring furiously. I scrabbled at the branch to keep from falling and turned to look at him. He was perched excitedly on a tree branch (no duh), peeking through the pine needles at... something.

"What's happening?" Iggy asked, sitting on Gazzy's other side. "Tell me everything."

"The Hummer is coming," I said for Gazzy, peeking through the branches. "Right on track, too." Sure enough, the black car was racing down the road... straight toward the trap. I smiled evilly. Now I get why Iggy and Gazzy enjoy stuff like this, I could do it all day! Then I said that again in my head and shook it away. No, I could not do it all day, I cannot survive with the ever-present risk of being blown sky-high. It would be hard to save the world on the Moon.

"And their driving too fast." Gazzy whispered. I turned to him

"Gazzy, don't start a sentence with 'And'." I whispered. "It makes you sound uneducated." Then I paused and thought about that last statement.

"I am uneducated, dummy," the boy grumbled and Iggy laughed, earning himself a _Shhhhhhh _from me and Gazzy.

"How long?" Iggy asked.

"Any second now..."

"Hope their wearing their seat belts!" Iggy laughed. "Not!"

And then (damn! I'm as bad as Gazzy!) with a huge boom, all hell broke loose. For the Erasers, anyway. Not us. Thank God.

_Hey, Marlene? We just blew up a ton of Erasers. You might want to take note._

_Taking note... OK, back to bed... ZZZzzZZZzzzz_

As Patterson would say, it was like a movie. Totally a movie my brother would like. Tires screaming, cars -car- flipping, oil splattering everywhere,... yeah, he would totally dig it.

Anyway.

"That was incredible!" Gazzy yelled, controlling the volume so our victims wouldn't hear.

"You have two seconds to explain what happened!" Iggy said excitedly. Gazzy gave him a brief synopsis and Iggy smiled widely. He punched the air and caused out branch to sway dangerously.

"Omgdon'tdothat," I gasped, clutching the branch with my fingernails digging into the wood. Iggy smirked and punched the air again, just to aggravate me. I growled. Just wait...

* * *

"Iggy, please don't," I whined as he ran his fingers over the 'Big Boy'. Honestly, I had enough on my mind without a blind teenager running his hands all over the bomb. He smirked, but other then that ignored my pleas. I slumped against the wall, thinking of Angel. I knew right now she was probably running in that maze thing, the floor shocking her bare feet. Poor girl.

"We have to eliminate the Erasers," Iggy muttered. "So they can't hurt us again."

"Have you ever thought of how utterly absurd that statement is?" I interrupted, totally ruining the sad moment. "'We have to eliminate the Erasers'." The boys stared at me and I held up my arms in surrender. "What?! I'm a random freak, and for some reason I didn't get that earlier. Well, actually I did but I was waiting for the perfect moment to bring it up." I paused. "I mean, not like this was the perfect moment or anything... this was totally not the perfect moment. Totally unperfect... imperfect? Or is it just imperfection..." I trailed, silently pondering this as Gazzy stared at me.

"Coral? Max said alcohol and drugs are very bad for kids. So, uh, you should, um..." I shot him a Look and he shut up.

"Did you hear that?" Iggy whispered suddenly. I knew exactly what it was, and suddenly felt sick.

"...maybe a raccoon?" Gazzy suggested. Iggy held up his hand.

"Not in daytime," I whispered for him. I watched as Gazzy scanned the room and Iggy listened intently.

"Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in," a hoarse and positively evil voice growled, the smirk prominent in the tone. The sound of nails on wood made me cringe and I stood up slowly, pulling Iggy and Gazzy up too. Just in time too. With a crash the door exploded in thousands of tiny bits. So that's what I would look like if I hadn't dodged that grenade...

"Eight o'clock," I muttered to Iggy. I was doing some major line-stealing here. Mwah.

"Here piggy piggy..." the Eraser growled, coming into view through the glass.

"Up and away," Iggy and I whispered at the same time. Gazzy looked like us like we were a crazy lady and a blind pyro. Appropriate expression.

The Erasers were talking but I didn't listen. I already knew what they were saying. And, as usual, it wasn't pretty.

"Ready?" Iggy whispered right on cue.

"This freaks blind," sneered one of the scarily larger Erasers. _I clenched my fists. Yeah, and he could still kick your ass any day._ They continued to talk and sneer at us.

"And this one," he said, pointing to me. "What are you, some sort of princess? Daddy had you equipped with wings so you could join these freaks?" he smirked.

"I'm not a princess!" I screeched, damn my temper. Then I did the stupidest thing I have ever done... so far. I marched right up to the big Eraser and punched him, hard. My excitement took over and I spun to the boys as the Eraser clutched his nose. "U and A!" I screamed and Iggy went, accompanied with a crash and a shower of wood and glass. Gazzy was nearly caught by another Eraser but I jumped up and kicked that one in the face. I used his back as a springboard and took off after a boys.

Then the Eraser grabbed my foot, twisting it around painfully. I screamed and they pulled me back into the house.

"CORAL!" Gazzy and Iggy yelled from above me. I looked up to see Iggy holding the bomb, the Big Boy. Then I remembered, he was going to drop it. As much as a would have liked to be all macho and say 'Leave me! Kill the Erasers!' I value my life. So, I didn't.

"DROP THAT BOMB AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE CHILDREN." I hollered and Iggy held the bomb closer to him. Another Eraser grabbed my foot and they started to pull me down. I struggled and kicked, then saw the boys watching.

"Well, get out of here!" I yelled just as the wolf-men pulled me in the house. There was a sharp pain on the back of my head and everything went blurry.

Damn.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Marlene's P.O.V**

Now, I can say that we were in the air again and not be lying. I mean, flying is awesome there is nothing compared to flying. Nothing. But (as per usual I might add) something was seriously wrong. Look, I know that October has a mind block and all but I hadn't heard anything from her in hours. She usually gave me a status update every have-hour or so. And last I heard they'd just laid out the trap for the hummer. Screw hours, that was practically last night!

_October? Ooooooooctober? Yoo-hoo are you dead?_

_Yes, I'm dead. So this is what Hell feels like. And you are here._

_So this is Hell. And there's a crucifix in it. What happened? I didn't hear you screaming with joy when you dropped the bomb on the Erasers. _

_Yeah, because it didn't happen._

_What?_

_Marlene, calm down. I'm not dead . . . yet. Oh my god! No way! Not happening_! Her thoughts became panicky and I nearly dropped out of the sky.

"Whoa, Violet!" Max and Nudge swooped down and helped steady me.

"Something. Is. Wrong." I ground through my teeth.

"If I had a nickel," Max muttered. "What now?" I shook my head.

"Don't know. Coral's in trouble, again. I don't know about Iggy and The Gasman. I think they're safe, but it looks like Coral got kidnapped or something."

"What?" Nudge screeched. "Kidnapped? What do you mean? By Erasers? Is that possible? How could you not tell us! You can see the future! How can you not know? What's going on with Iggy and Gazzy?! Are they safe? Is Coral at the School?! Is she with Angel? What's happening to Angel?"

"Jeezum I can't answer all those. I didn't know this would happen because it wasn't planned, alright? It wasn't supposed to happen. Dammit, what was she thinking?"

"Don't you know?" Fang asked. I craned my neck to look up at his dark shape circling overhead. "Seeing as you can read each other's minds."

"She's been blocking me out. I just got a little bit of what was going on. She's in the School, yeah. But she's okay for now. I can't imagine them doing much to her, it isn't like there's anything left to do. Unless they've come up with a tank that isn't air or water . . ." _October? October seriously you need to talk to me._

_I. Hate. Needles. Tell. Fang. That. I. Can. Relate._

"Oh, hey Fang," I squinted up at him again. "Coral hates needles also, so don't feel alone." I zeroed in on his face, he was glaring daggers at me. I flashed him an innocent smile and zoomed up ahead for the pure joy of it. Nudge was right behind me and we flew in sync for a while, trying some really cool synchronized-flying techniques. Yeah, I know I'm weird. But there wasn't anything I could do for Meghan so I might as well enjoy my freedom now.

_Jeez, thanks Marlene._

***

Max was flying up ahead a little bit, looking down and watching as random little things blurred into focus. I knew that she was thinking, of all things, about the good things of being a mutant freak. And how she would zoom in on a group of kids and assume that they were just walking to school whilst we were here flying. Aha, she just dropped a little she's watching . . . she's watching, there we go, and now you are caught up to our current position.

"Max, take my word for it we are all going to regret it if you do not do this." Max stared at me, amazed. "I know things." I informed her, doing a happy little loop in midair.

"What?" Fang asked, following Max's gaze and focusing on the group of kids below. "No. No way Max. Do not do this. Bad idea."

"What? What?" Nudge had finally caught up, we were now all hovering in midair Max and Fang still looking down. Nudge looked to me, a little confused. I shrugged.

"Max saw something going on down there and she wants to help. I'm trying to convince her that is she doesn't we will all regret it but Fang disagrees."

"Fang can't see the future," Nudge pointed out.

"Max, it's gonna hold you up a few days," I warned. "But it's worth it. Besides, Angel needs to be at the School." Max hesitated. "It's all going to get very ugly in about . . . ten . . . nine . . . no pressure . . . seven . .. six . . . come on Max . . ."

"Fang, you are in charge. Head towards the meeting place. I gotta do this, I'll be right back." With that Max folded in her wings and dropped into a steep vertical dive. Fang looked like he wanted to fnicking kill me.

_You just convinced Max to go save Ella, right?_

_!_

_You have a talent for stringing words together._

_'sactuallyprettyfun._

_OK, seriously, stop._

_Sorry, sorry. Yeah I think I told them too much and Fang looks like he wants to kill me but other than that everything is great on my end. How about you?_

_I was stabbed multiple times with needles, shoved into an Olympic sized swimming pool - oh yeah I have those weird untraceable gills. And I can talk to fish._

_Awesome!_

_Don't you have a plot line to get to?_

_Oh yeah, right. Nice to know you aren't dead._

_Sure, sure. If I die you get Iggy_. I giggled evilly, but didn't reply. Like she said, I had a plot to get back to.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey everybody! First off, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! *dies* When I convinced Marlene to let me post this story, we never thought people would actually like it! THANK YOU AGAIN!**

**Secondly, sorry for not posting yesterday. was being a pain. **

**Keegan: And she let everyone know, trust me.**

**Me: Shut up. **

**Keegan: Nope. I make my first appearence in this chapter. **

**Me: Yes you do! HUGE NEWS, PEOPLE!**

**Thirdly, I won't be posting as frequently because my family and I are going on vacation for two weeks! YIPEE!!! We leave tomorrow! **

**Well, that's it! Please review! I hope you like it!  
**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

**October's POV**

I sat on the bottom of the huge pool, bored to tears. I had my arms crossed over my chest and my mouth was fixed in a deep scowl. Checking my watch, I discovered I had been underwater for nearly forty-five minutes. Yes, underwater. After being shoved in this pool by the stupid Whitecoats, I had discovered I could breathe underwater like a shark. I suspected gills, but couldn't feel any. Finally, after another few minutes, I swam to the top. I burst above the water and swam over to the side where two Whitecoats were sitting in folding chairs with clipboards.

"Forty-seven minutes six and seventy-seven hundredths seconds, exactly." the shorter one said, clicking the stopwatch. I hurrumpthed and pulled myself out. The Whitecoats had not given me any sort of bathing suit so I stood there in my t-shirt and underwear.

"What exactly happened? Did you stop being able to breathe? Did you run out of air?" the taller one questioned, jumping up.

"No."

"...so you ran out of air?"

"Nope."

"Well then, what happened?!" he burst out. I shrugged.

"I got bored. Why don't you try sitting on the bottom of a pool for forty-five minutes and see what you can find to do."

Both men scowled at me and put the handcuffs back on my hands. The other secured the metal band back around my stomach and over my wings, keep me from opening them. It was quite painful, and embarrassing seeing as I didn't have any pants on. They dragged me out of the room and up three flights of stairs before they came to The Room. They pulled me inside and I saw the stacks of cages, filled with experiments. I shuddered, from anger and cold. The room was freezing and I was soaking wet.

_What's happening now?_

_Marlene, thank god. They finally let me out of the pool. I'm coooolllldddd._

_...why?_

_Maybe because I'm in a freezing cold room, soaking wet, with no pants on._

_Dot. Dot. Dot._

_MY QUOTE. YOU NO STEALY._

The men walked me down the rows and I felt dozens of eyes on me. I must admit, I did look more normal then most of them. I wonder if Angel is in here...

We continued to walk down the rows of cages until we got nearer to the back. There were no experiments down here.

The two men stopped at a cage and shoved me in. It was really big, much larger then the one I had been shoved in last time. This one was perfectly square and almost exactly my height. The men snapped a lock on and walked away, looking slightly surprised that I wasn't bawling my eyes out yet. I wasn't worried, I would get out of here somehow.

I sat down and brought my cuffed hands under my butt and legs so they were in front of me. The lock hole was a normal size, it didn't look too hard to pick. Too bad I don't carry a lockpicking kit with me... ah well. I've never used one anyway. In the past I have used a pencil, screwdriver, and once one of those metal thingies you used to clip papers- a paper clip. Duh. I looked around and jumped up when I saw all the cages around me weren't empty after all. A pair of eyes were staring right at me from the cage next to him. I yelped and scrambled away.

"What did they do to you?" a male's voice said. Only another experiment. And this one can talk.

_What? _Sam's voice interrupted.

_Shut up._

"Forced me in a pool for forty-five minutes. I'm only 94%% human. 2% is shark." I explained. The figure inched out of the shadow and I saw a teenage boy with long and scraggly light brown hair that covered his left eye. He had green eyes (well, the one I could see) that had a ring of yellow around the pupil. He wore scratched and ripped jeans with a gray shirt. He also had a gray baseball cap on his head.

"What's the other 2%?" he asked. I was surprised, not most experiments were intelligent.

"Bird."

He frowned. "You don't have a beak." I laughed, the sound sounding wrong in the damp room. I shivered involuntarily.

"I'll show you if you help me get out of this thing." I gestured to the handcuffs and metal band... thingy. It was restricting my breathing and hurt. He pointed to the front of the cage.

"There is usually a clipboard on the front. See if there's a pin or something on it."

I inched forward and peered through the bars. Sure enough, a few papers were secured with a paper clip. Painfully, I squeezed my hands through the bars and yanked it loose. A bunch of papers fluttered to the ground and I got a look at one of them.

Name: ________

Age: ________

Gender: Female

DNA:______

It went on like that. They were trying to figure out who and what I was. I hadn't been created here, so I would have no explanation to who I was. Not like I wanted to tell them of course. I had to get out of here.

"I got it." I said, crawling back to the boy. He took it from me and I pushed my hands through my cage and into his. He bent the clip and stuck it into the lock, fiddling around with it. His long fingers moved swiftly, almost expertly. In record time the lock flew open. He even beat Iggy's record of four and a half minutes. I took my hands back and rubbed my wrists. Then I felt the band. There was another small lock on this too.

"Give it here." I said and he gave the clip to me. I managed to pop the lock open and the band fell to the floor. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and my wings popped out. They crashed against the sides of the cage, ouch.

The boy gaped.

"Can you- can you, fly?" he asked incredulously, reaching through the bars to touch the pink feathers at the tips. I nodded. He was still staring at the feathers in his hands. "Who are you?"

"Coral." I answered. Huh, I was getting used to this name. "Do you have a name?" His head shot up and his eyes bore into mine.

"Yes. Keegan." he answered, slightly defensively.

"Oh. Most experiments here don't have names."

"I'm not from here."

I reeled back. Another outsider?

"Then why are you here?" I asked. He lifted off his hat to reveal gray cat ears. From behind him emerged a matching tail. I felt my jaw drop.

"Holy fnick." I gasped. They were soft and velvety, as I discovered when I touched his ears.

_Marlene? We have a problem..._

* * *

"Super speed?"

"Nope." It was the second day of being here. I had threatened the Whitecoat taking me to Jeb until he finally took me back to the pool so I could get my jeans, shoes and sweatshirt back. Thank God.

Jeb paused, looking through more papers. He looked up.

"Mind reading?"

"Nope." I lied. "I told you, besides breathing underwater and flying, I don't have any other powers!" I purposefully didn't mention the talking to fish thing. That was just waaaay too cool for sharing with a lowlife like Jeb.

"Flames come out of your palms?" he asked, ignoring me. I bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing.

"No comment. This is getting ridiculous!" I burst out, slouching more in my chair. Jeb was sitting across the table from me. We were in a small room with the table, two chairs, and a counter with a coffee maker on it. Really no weapons. I knew for a fact that a Whitecoat was standing on the other side of the door, waiting to take me back to my cage. I stood up and walked over to the counter, searching for something to whack Jeb with. Seriously, he deserved it.

Apparently Jeb was used to this so he stayed where he was, looking through the papers.

"I know you must have come from here." he said suddenly. I picked up the full coffee pot.

"Yeah?" I moved closer to him. He didn't look up.

"We are the only place in the world that is capable of creating phenomenons like this. Like you." He replied, still not looking up.

"Phenomenons? You call them phenomenons?!" I raged.

"Of course. We are addling with human DNA and creating cross breeds!" he announced, sounding proud of himself. "And, as I said before, we are the only people who have ever managed this feat." Furious, I stalked over to him and dumped the coffee on his balding head.

"What if I'm not from this world then!" I shouted as he sputtered. Then I dropped the pot, spun on my heel, and pushed through the door. Back to my cage I go.

* * *

_Marlene, you'd better get your ass over here and save me,_ I threatened as the Eraser pushed me back into the cage.

_No can do. You got yourself in there, you should be able to get yourself out._

"How did it go?" Keegan smirked from his cage once the Eraser had left.

"Oh, shut up." I snapped.

_What the hell?! I was kidnapped. I would hardly call that 'getting myself in there'._

_Good luck._

"What are you doing?" Keegan asked.

"Oh, my friend and I can talk telepathically. She's annoying. Like you. You'll like her."

Keegan rolled his eyes and slumped against the side of his cage. We were silent for a moment. Then I pressed my face to the side of the cage.

"Look, we can't stay in here forever. We need to get out." Keegan laughed at my statement.

"Yeah. Right. Think I haven't already tried that?" I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks so much for your support." I replied sarcastically.

"Fine. Do you have any idea how to get out?" He sat up straight and looked me in the eye with a stubborn look.

"Nope. We're going to go with the flow on this one."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Marlene's P.O.V**

_So . . . What's happening now?_

_Would you shut up? I'm trying to think!_

This was just another example of how short a temper October had. I was actually being good this time, as in this was the first time I tried to talk to her in about three hours.

"What's going on?" Nudge asked, looking down at me. I shrugged, not as easy a feat while flying. "You don't know?"

"Of course not. I think they gave Coral mule genes or something you would not believe how stubborn she is. And right now she doesn't want to tell me what's going on."

"Mule genes? Would that even work? What do you think that would look like? Isn't stubborn as a mule just a saying? Does she really have mule genes? Can she talk to livestock? Now that would be really funny!"

"Wow, Nudge. Hang on, I was joking. She doesn't have mule genes." _. . . October??_

_Go away._

_Fine, fine._

Noticed who hasn't spoken yet? Yeah. Fang hasn't talked to me since I told Max that she needed to go and save Ella. Hadn't talked at all actually. Not really a rare occurrence but still . . .

"Hey Fang, on another silent streak?" I flew up so we were side-by-side. Might as well make peace while I still had the chance. "Max is okay," I lied. Actually about now she was probably running through the woods trying to avoid getting shot. So she was okay if we redefined the word.

"That was a waste of time. We should focus on Angel," he replied. No fnick.

"Yeah, and this is a big part of saving Angel," I said calmly. "Look, she's going to hold us up for a few days. Big deal. Coral is at the School, and I would like to see them do something to Angel while Coral is with her." _Oh yeah, that reminds me. Hey, October, are you with Angel yet? Or are you still plotting evilly with the random catboy you met?_

_Keegan, and I haven't seen Angel yet. I have seen Jeb._

_Tell me something I don't already know_. She was silent. That was new, usually she was the one telling me to shut up. In that exact way, October sure had a way with words. _I'm rolling my eyes at you, in case you couldn't tell._

_I'm not Iggy. _

I laughed in my head, geez I was beginning to scare myself.

"Hey? Violet? Hello? Earth to Birdgirl."

"Huh? Oh, hey. You're talking to me. Coral says hi. She's plotting ways to get out of the School. But I have a feeling we're going to end up rescuing her along with Angel."

"Great." Fang looked around, his eyes narrowing when he saw the uneven mountain side. "Come on, guys." He veered sharply to the left and headed towards the mountain. Nudge and I looked at each other, shrugged, and went after Fang.

We touched down in a little cave, nearly untraceable from the air unless you were looking for it. How he knew where to look? Actually, how he knew that the cave was there is what I want to know. JP must have some influence, even when we were in the book. I really have to thank him if we ever get out of here. Or even if i get out of here, not sure how well October is doing. Seeing as she is trapped in the School and all.

_October?_

_Hello, you have reached October's head. October is not here right now because she is trying to figure out how to escape from the School. If you leave your name CoughMarleneCough and number she will get back to you as soon as she can. Thank you and Good bye. In the future you can get out of my head to skip this message._

"Let's hang here until Max comes," Fang said, looking around the cave. "It doesn't look to deep, and I don't think anything could live in here, seeing as we're so far up. It should be fine."

"OK, now that we have living arrangements settled cough it up." I said holding my hand out palm up.

"What?"

"Come on, Fang. I know you hid chocolate in your backpack."

"Oh my God!" Nudge squeaked. "Fang, you have chocolate?! And I was just going to say I was so hungry . . . Oh yeah, but you probably knew that." So they were finally getting used to my "future seeing" thing. It was about time.

"Here," Fang had unzipped his jacket and taken three chocolate bars from his bag. "Enjoy, because I only have four. of course we could always split Max's . . ." I smiled and slowly unwrapped the chocolate bar. Walking out to the mouth of the cave I heard Nudge muttering something through a mouthful of chocolate.

"Oh meh goshb ih lurv youb Fangh." or something like that.

"Hey guys," I said, swallowing the chocolate in my mouth. "Guys, you might want to come and look at this." Fang and Nudge came out to the ledge and froze.

Among the shrubby plants that clung to the mountain side and the random scattering of small rodent's bones there were nests. Huge nests. Hawk's nests. There were about ten or twelve of them all together. Without really thinking I started to sink, very slowly, to my knees and gradually to a normal sitting position.

"No sudden movements," Fang whispered, slowly sitting next to me. Nudge was on my other side, visibly biting the inside of her lip.

"They're Ferruginous Hawks," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Huge raptors."

"Largest in the states," Fang continued. For someone who had a less than average education I would like to know how he could recognize the birds on sight. I only knew because it was his original line.

_Ha! I can scream in your head and you have to sit there without doing annnyyythiiing! _

_Hahaha!!_

I stiffened but relaxed quickly when all of the hawk's turned to look at me. Oh yeah, did I mention that this was a the season that all of the babies were hatched from their eggs? The season when the parent hawks are uber protective? Yeah and there were about two parents to a nest, like there ought to be. They had lethal talons, sharp curving beaks . . . and god if those didn't kill you their eyes would. They had big, round, piercing eyes. Unfortunately I have a talent (one that October shares) for coming up with a quote for any occasion. And right now, i had Quint's speech running through my head. You know:

'And the thing about a shark is, he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes.'.

Yeah, and all the rest of it. Ring a bell? Come on, haven't any of you seen Jaws?? Anyway, the eyes part was the only one that really stood out. I was trying really hard to stifle giggles when movement caught the corner of my eye.

"Fang, slower," I hissed as he opened his wings. "Letting them catch his sent," I whispered to Nudge. "Slowly, Fang." We'd been sitting for a long time, and I could see that Nudge was close to exploding.

"Do you-" She trailed off when Fang shook his head. All the hawks turned their laser eyes on him and we froze like status. What would be years later for Nudge but only an hour or so in reality, the hawks relaxed. Most of them went tack to feeding their increasingly loud offspring, while other took off to go and find more food.

"Let's fly," I said watching the hawks.

"Yeah," Fang said, standing up and stretching. "God, did you see that? Come on guys, let's see if we can do that." The hawks were circling overhead, they had such awesome control . . . they could turn with the slightest change in their feathers. And the power they had in their wing strokes. Oh, I was so there!

_Who's laughing now? I'm flying with hawks, but you are trapped in a crate!_

_Actually right now, I am flying against a huge fan. They want to see how much power I can withstand before my wings snap off. Or before I lose control and go splat into the wall ._

_Oh my God? really? No way, they cannot - heey wait a second. _She snickered.

_Gotcha._

Growling, I waited while Fang and Nudge launched themselves off of the cliff edge and I followed them. So maybe their flying was a bit more graceful than mine was. But I would sure get a few tips from the hawks. Ha.

Have you ever swum with sharks? Not at Discovery Cove or anything but in the actual ocean. Well, if you have you are somewhere close to flying with hawks like these. Yeah, I know I took Max's quote and I am in the wrong part of the story for the quote but I felt that it needed to be said. Actually, I think I'm in the wrong book all together. But that's way off the point.

"Hey! Violet, look at this!" I looked up as Nudge flew in a wide arc over my head. She'd picked up on how the hawk's used the tips of their feathers to change direction.

"So, like this?" I asked, trying to imitate what she did. Yeah, epic fail. I almost killed myself because I turned a little too much and, again this is an almost, flung myself at the mountain side. Whoops.

"Yes, exactly like that!" Fang said. _Oh my God! Oh my god!'_

_What? What?_

_Fang actually laughed! Like you know not a full blown laugh! but still! Ha! I don't think he ever laughs in the first book!_

_You are changing important details. _

_Oh shut up. And I almost killed myself, just thought I'd let you know. _

_Dammit._

_What?_

_You said almost._


	16. Chapter 16

**It's short... I apologize...**

**Thank you _so much _for all the reviews!!!!! Again, my penname has changed from 'Horsegirl99' to 'Simply Pirate'. **

**Enjoy!**

**-October  
**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

**October's POV**

"Be quiet," Keegan hissed at me. I scowled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry if I was implanted with bird and shark genes instead of cat." We had picked the locks on our cages and we were sneaking down the hallways, trying to find a way out. I wasn't sure if I could fly the both of us out, but if I couldn't carry us both I'd ditch Keegan and possibly come back for him later. Possibly.

_HELLO! WHAT'S UP! _

I yelped loudly and fell backwards as Marlene's voice filled my ears. Keegan nearly throttled me then and there.

_What the hell!!! I am trying to go through with an escape plan, here!_

_Sorry… not._

I could almost hear her smirk.

_Oh shut up_. I replied and blocked her out. Again, I could imagine a chibi Marlene pounding against the wall. Mwah.

"Violet again?" Keegan muttered, slinking down the hallway with me behind him.

"How did _you_ know..." I grumbled sarcastically.

"Shhh..."

I rolled my eyes. Apparently he's allowed to talk. I nearly ran into Keegan when he stopped abruptly at a corner.

"What?!" I hissed in his ear.

"Listen..." he muttered. I tuned into my uber-awesome hearing and heard footsteps clattering closer and closer. I swore and grabbed his hand, releasing my wings and taking off towards the extremely high ceiling. Keegan yelped quietly and grabbed my arm with both of his hands. I snickered silently; he looked ridiculous.

Luckily, he was pretty light and I was able to fly us to one of the metal beams on the ceiling. We perched on it and watched as a single Whitecoat pattered down the hall, flipping through some sheets on a clipboard.

"I could have killed him," I scoffed once his footsteps had died away. Keegan rolled his eyes.

"Get us down." he scowled. I grabbed him and flew further down the hallway. I know he didn't like flying, but it was faster and he was annoying me.

_Who's annoying you_? Marlene's voice popped in.

_October is not here now and I can't take a message right now. Please call back later._

We flew further down the hallways, Keegan hissing at me. My arms and wings were starting to get tired. I didn't even know if it was night or day. Finally, we exited the maze of hallways and found a large metal door.

"Think that's a way out?" I asked.

"I don't know! I just want my feet on the ground, please!" he begged. I sighed dramatically and set us down. Together, we turned the wheel and pulled the door open. We stepped out and I looked around.

It was nighttime. As far as I could tell, this was the huge training field where Max and the Flock would soon be thrown around.

"I know where this is. We have to go." I whispered and grabbed his hand, yanking him upwards.

"What the hell is with you and randomly launching me into the air?!" he yelped. I smirked; he totally had it coming.


	17. Chapter 17

**I...really have nothing to say. O.O That's it. Carry on. **

**-October**

**Oh yeah, Marlene apologizes for the utter weirdness of this chapter. It didn't make any sense to me either.  
**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Marlene's P.O.V**

Let's mix things up a little bit, just for fun. (Insert groan from invisible audience.)

_I was walking down a dirt road. Relatively large condo-sized trailers lined the road on either side of me… which you know really isn't a good thing. I'll mention here that we did in fact split Max's chocolate bar for dinner. Hehe, continue with the dream._

_In front of me there was a two story building with peeling blue paint and a screen door. Glancing around I went to the back of the building, coming face-to-face with . . . the back door. With an uncomfortable dropping feeling in my stomach (can I have some applause for that last sentence?) I pushed open the backdoor and went into the building. I had expected to actually see some of the building, but I was in a dimly lit hallway with another door. A sliding door, which I recognized almost immediately. Though, ironically, I've never actually seen the said door._

_"Yeah, actually, I called them." A man said. I walked a closer to the door and bent down to peer through the crack between the door and the wall._

_"Anna," another man said after a short silence. "I would like you to try and keep a secret from me." I stuffed my fist into my mouth and rocked back onto my heels. Yeah, I'm a bit slow but I finally realized where I was. And then I remembered that I was supposed to be in Maximum Ride not in one of my own novels._

_"I will never get over how natural it is for you guys to do that," A woman said with a small sigh. There was a small scrape as someone moved a chair across the floor and sat down in it._

_"Annoyed the hell out of me when we were kids," the first man said. And that was where all of the normality just disappeared. Poof gone. Just watch. So the back door opened, and a girl in her late teens walked in. You would've expected her to see me, but of course she didn't she just walked right passed me, opened the sliding door and went into the room. This was as David (one of the three men in the room) was saying "I didn't have Magic and Megan didn't have Magic. That was off putting right there."_

_"Did someone call me? Oh my gosh! You guys are here!" There was much squealing after that. And the next thing that happened was Nudge walked in. Followed by Iggy, Gazzy, Max, October, and some random guy with long-ish brown hair and torn clothes who was wearing a baseball cap._

_"Vi! Vi, have you seen Fang? He's gone!" Nudge said, running up to me._

_"Fang's gone?" Max asked, automatically looking around the now cramped space. You fit six birdkids and some other random DNA hybrid into a tiny hallway and, yeah. It gets pretty cramped._

_"Faaang?" October called, opening the door and sticking her head out. "Fang? Fang you were right behind meeeee!!!"_

_"First Angel, then Coral, and now Fang," Nudge said, looking around. She sniffed. "I think they took you have all heard of the Twilight Zone, right? No, I guess not. How many of you watch black-and-white TV shows? Yeah didn't think so. I'll stop referencing the Twilight Zone then. So where was I? Oh yeah, everyone was looking for Fang. _

_"Fang? Fang!" _

_"Faaaaang???" _

_"Fang, they took Fang!" _

_Good god can we say annoying. Not to mention that my head was starting to hurt a little. "Faaaang??" "Fang, where are you"_

"Fang! Fang? FANG!" There was a small sob. "Violet, Violet please wake up! Fang's gone! Violet!"

I groaned and sat up rubbing my head. Oooh, using a rock as a pillow. That explains the headache.

_Awake are you? About time, you were having some seriously weird dreams there._

_You can see my dreams? God, isn't anything mine anymore?_

_Nope._

_Grrr._

"Violet, hello? Aren't you listening?" I looked at Nudge and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I'm listening. Sorry, I had the strangest dream . . . Something about a trailer park . . . then you guys came in . . . and were all screaming about Fang . . ." I leaned back against the wall of the cave. Max worthy headache.

_Hahahaha._

_Shut up._

"But, Fang is gone," Nudge said, gesturing at the empty cave. "I've been trying to wake you up. But you weren't really . . . responding."

"Sorry, Nudge. Fang isn't gone, he's just scouting around."

"Are you sure?" I nodded and stood up. Stretching, I started towards the opening of the cave, running my tongue over my dry lips. "Ouch!"

"What?" Nudge asked, looking at me_._

_Well, there goes all hopes of being attractive._ I muttered to October as I ran my fingers over my teeth.

Correction: as I ran my fingers over my freaking _shark teeth_.

"Oh . . . Wow. Uh, those weren't there before." Nudge watched me as I felt the multiple rows of teeth behind my new jagged ones. I got three years of braces for _this?_

"This really puts a damper on, oh I don't know… _eating_?!"

_October I am going to fnicking kill you! Why the hell did you say shark?? Why?_

_What happened? Why have you lost all hopes of being attractive?_

_I have fnicking shark teeth! I'd better be able to breathe underwater. How the hell am I supposed to eat with these?_

"Come on, let's go find Fang," I growled, still poking at my teeth with my finger. "I'll bet he found food that I can't eat. Actually, scratch that, he found a Wendy's." As I was talking I hadn't noticed the dark shadow passing over me, or the fwoosh of Fang's wings as he landed behind me.

_October wtf? A shark._

_Don't turn around. _I could practically hear her laughing.

"I heard screaming, what's up?" Squealing in surprise, I jumped forward, almost falling off the edge of the cliff.

"Oh, sorry Violet. Thought you heard me." Fang said. I turned and glared at his smirk.

"Yeah, sure. So where's the town? We're hungry."

"Town? Food? Fang, where did you go anyway?" Nudge glared at Fang who shrugged.

"There's a town three miles away. Loads of fast food places come on- Whoa! Violet what happened to your teeth?!"

"Oh, thanks for noticing!" I said. "Probably some weird shark thing, i can assure you they weren't here before. Really. Anyway, let's go. I want to see if I can eat."

* * *

So, it turned out that I could eat, with minimum difficulties. I mean, you try eating with about three rows of sharp jagged shark teeth. It took a bit of practice, but after a while I could just ignore the extra two rows and use the first one for eating. On the bright side, biting had always been a weapon and now I had all these extra teeth to back it all up.

"Hey, Fang, how much biting power does a shark have?" I asked, taking the wrapper off of my fourth hamburger. Nudge looked up from the salad she was eating - yeah did I mention she's officially declared herself a vegetarian? Don't worry, it won't last long.

"I don't know . . . It depends on the shark I think. Why?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering-" I tore the hamburger in half with my hands and started on one half of it. "-if the bite power came with the teeth because that would be pretty cool in my book.

' _In your book'. We can so not use that saying anymore._

_Oh, hey October. What's up?_

_Ummmmm…._

_I'm eating a Wendy's bacon double cheese burger with fries. Actually, this is my third or fourth._

_I haven't eaten anything in days! You have to save me something._

"Coral wants us to save her something. Says she's starving." _How about random cat-guy?_

_Do you refuse to use his real name just to annoy me?_

_Er no. But now I do!_ She didn't answer me. Probably that mental wall thing that she created. My chibi self is shaking her fists at you.

_Huh? How did you know about that??_ Feeling rather satisfied with the provided reaction I felt no need to answer her question.


	18. Chapter 18

**HELLO! A couple things before I let you go read-**

**I'M BACK, BABY! Back in the USA! Yipee! And I'm tanner then _you_. HA!  
**

**And I read Fang: The Worst Freaking Book Under The Sun. **

**Well, I haven't finished it yet but I'm about... what, 2/3 done? Something like that. **

**Its an understatement to say I hate it. You know what? The series ended at book five. There. Done. Fang? Book 6? What are you talking about? _It never happened. _Period. **

***huff* **

**I wrote a oneshot about it (Starring our two favorite birdgirls!) You can find it on my page. **

**I hate this part but the past two chapters we've gotten a slow flow of reviews... well, please take the time to review. Have you ever thought that you taking 45 seconds to review could put a smile on two people's faces, and another smile when they think back the the fact that they have _freaking fans. _We're still a bit stunned, to be honest. We never thought we would get 10 reviews; now we're pushing 100! :O**

**Ok! Go read! Enjoy, I actually like this chapter! And- be afraid- Marlene and I have currently (over webcam... lol) devised lots 'o devious plans for this story... plot changing... new characters... voices... be scared. **

**-October  
**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen**

**October's POV**

After having my little chibi image of Marlene squashed, I was a lot more hostile to Keegan. I flew over the high wall and we were out.

"Yippee!" I yelled, trying to do a flip them remembering Keegan. Damn catkid, remind me why I rescued him anyway?

_Cuz he's a hottie!_

Need I say who that was? I didn't think so.

"Why so quiet?" Keegan asked. "You usually never shut up." I looked down and glared at him.

"Look, buddy. Just keep reminding yourself that I am the reason that you are here! I am the one who saved you from being seen by the Whitecoat! Heck, you wouldn't have even been able to find the guts to escape in the first place!" I seethed. "So keep reminding yourself that I have options. I have freaking options here! And their wide open! I can drop you at a moment's notice!"

Keegan made an irritating huff. "Yeah, right. Like you would drop me." he mocked.

"Oh, really?" I scowled and the 'O rly?' owl flashed across my eyes for a second. Then I dropped him. I crossed my arms and halted in midair, listening to his high pitched scream.

_Did you just seriously drop him?!_

_Don't you have another burger to eat or something?_

Marlene huffed. _As much as I don't want another person to take care of, you can't just leave him!_

_Bite me._

_Really? With all these extra teeth?_

…

Luckily we had been flying extraordinarily high up and Marlene and I talk really fast, so Keegan was still falling. Convenient. Then he reached the ground and landed on a handy pile of marshmallows.

Yeah, right.

...

But seriously.

I sighed and swooped down really fast to catch the annoying boy. I did when he was about 30 feet off the ground.

"In the future," I growled. "Don't test me."

* * *

It was around three in the morning when Keegan and I touched down at the restaurant Marlene had agreed to meet us at. I was exhausted and Keegan was severely pissed off at me.

"We're here." I said grouchily. If I never saw him again, I would be happy. He crossed his arms and looked at me stubbornly.

"You go first. After all that, how am I to know this isn't a prank?" He challenged. I growled menacingly but marched in front of the fast food place and barged through the door, slamming it behind me. Unfortunately it was a revolving door so I ended up being pushed around again.

"And there she is." I heard Marlene's voice say. "She's the only one I know who would ignore the fact that it's a _revolving door _and try to slam it." I actually smiled; it was nice to hear her voice outside my head.

…That sounds bad.

I escaped the evil door and looked around the nearly empty restaurant with employees snoozing behind the counter and waitresses gathered around a table playing poker. I spotted a group of five people in a booth.

"Hey." I said, sliding in the booth next to Marlene. She squealed and hugged me tightly. I gasped.

"No offense… but I just spent two days with a metal band around my stomach. Please let go."

She ignored me. Of course.

Fang was across from me, sitting next to Nudge and Gazzy. Marlene was squished between me and Iggy, hugging me to death.

"Well, I'm _so sorry _to interrupt this little meeting." a voice said.

"Eraser!" Nudge shrieked and one of the employees who was still half awake looked at her with a slight interest.

"I _know _he's good looking," I groaned. "But he's not an Eraser." Keegan smirked.

"Is this Keegan?" Marlene asked, looking him up and down.

"Yup. This is the catkid who was fortunate enough to meet me but, yet, shows no gratitude except giving me crap about my flying." I complained. Fang scooted over and Keegan plopped down next to him. Now the booth looked pretttty full.

"So Marlene said you had cat genes, is that right?" Nudge started up, barely giving Keegan time to nod. Luckily, I had warned him about her.

_Seriously?_

_What?! You have to find _something_to talk about for hours and hours of flying._

"Oh that's so cool! You have ears right? I wish I had ears, but not a tail because that would totally ruin my pants! I'd, like, have to cut a hole in them and that wouldn't be attractive at _all._ I mean, I could hide it but that would be uncomfortable. So you have a tail too? Do _you _cut a hole in your pants? Why is your shirt gray? Where did you get it? It's, like, so last season. I know, right? I'm a kid on a run and I can still keep track of what's in!" She tried, unsuccessfully, to pose like a model. Keegan's eye twitched and Gazzy giggled. "I'm like, the most fashioniest person here!"

"Ok, you had your full minute to talk, Nudge." I said so she couldn't continue. "Now, what's been going on while I've been gone?" I leaned forward.

"Well," Marlene took a deep breath. "We discovered the place with the hawks, Fang broke into his chocolate stash, Nudge nearly got us killed spying on some trailer trash, those last sentences just rhymed, Ari is now colorful, we went back to the hawk place, found Iggy and Gazzy, and came here. Oh yeah, and Max flew away and got shot."

She realized too late that that was too much information. She instinctively clapped her hand over her mouth.

"What?!" Fang yelled. I bet he would have stood up if Nudge hadn't held him down.

"I don't know where that came from!" Marlene gasped. The waitresses at the table across the room glanced at us, then went back their game.

_You idiot! _I scolded her.

_I know! I'm working on it!_

Fang lowered his voice to a dangerous whisper. "What do you _mean _she got shot?" he growled. Marlene removed her hand from her mouth.

"I just suddenly… knew." she whispered, acting all dramatic.

_Drama queen… _I teased.

"You just, knew?" Iggy repeated. Marlene nodded.

"Yeah. But, I have this feeling that's she's gonna be O.K."

Nudge placed her hand on Fang's arm. "Her feelings are usually right." she muttered to him.

"I am _totally _lost here." Keegan said. I glanced at him and saw that he did indeed like confused beyond belief.

I stood up. "Well, get used to it. Because we really don't have time to explain."

* * *

**Give me a smile. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry for the delay, everyone. Life is hectic and stressful! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen  
Marlene's P.O.V**

"Alright, Violet," Max said, swerving so she was flying next to me. "Time for another prediction." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"A what?"

"Prediction," she said again. "Vision from the future. Glimpse of what is to come. Some freaking information on what's going to happen!"

"Oh! One of those! Of course, just give me a minute." I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers to my forehead, holding the other hand out dramatically I paused in midair, half attempting to hover, half moving forward slowly.

"Oh great," October muttered awkwardly coming to a halt, she was carrying Keegan. "How am I supposed to hover?" I made a face at her, successfully spearing the inside of my mouth with a pointy serrated tooth.

"Ow," I muttered, running my tongue over the bloody patch. "Great." Max cleared her throat impatiently.

_Oh great, I missed How Not to Ruin a Plot 101._

_Yeah, JP might send a pack of Erasers on you if you give away too much. _October agreed.

_Thanks, _I replied sarcastically._ It's great how supportive you're being. _

"OK, so ... Max ..... doesn't know how to drive," I started carefully. "And we learn a new swear word."

"That's it?" Max asked when I paused. "How does that help us!?"

"Well that swear word could come in handy," Iggy pointed out. Gazzy nodded.

"I'm not done," I snapped.

_Tell Keegan I'll drop him if he doesn't stop complaining…_

"Oh! Right! Keegan!" All eyes turned to the cat-boy. "Keegan helps us rob an ATM."

"What!?" Keegan yelped.

"Don't look at me! You and Iggy have the best ears in the Flock. Besides, common beliefs put aside I _don't _know everything." Keegan rolled his eyes.

"No duh, genius."

I glowered at him.

"So we rob ATM, learn a new swear word, and make it official that Max can't drive," Nudge said thoughtfully. "Sounds fun! Though, I don't know how the swear word makes any sense. I mean, is that just something random that we pick up along the way? Or is it and important swear word? Like a swear word in another language? That would be soooo cool! I've always wanted to learn another language! I tried to teach myself Spanish by watching TV but I couldn't turn on the subtitles so it didn't work."

"Plus everyone else wanted to TV," Gazzy interrupted. "So we made you give up on that."

"Yes! But it would still be cool to swear in another language! Then no one would know we were insulting them!"

"And where's the fun in that?" Iggy asked, while we resumed our previous flight pattern. "You don't get any reaction from them!" Max sighed and took up conversation with Fang, obviously trying to tune us out.

"Vi! Your turn!" October announced brightly, swooping over to me and holding out Keegan's arms. We glared at each other for a minute before I reached over and grabbed his wrists. I winced when his claws dug into my arm.

"Retract the claws," I muttered.

There was a 'shhlick' as his retractable cat claws slid back into place. I wasn't sure where that was, possibly under his human fingernails. I doubted that they _were _his fingernails because, aside from the fact that the claws were black, they were literal pointed claws. Keegan must've notice my staring at his hands because he shifted his grip.

"What? If I claw you and you drop me, I die." he said simply, as if that reassured me at all.

As for the next few hours....I have one word: fly. We flew without company (since the hawks had left a while ago and we weren't talking to each other) and without food. By the time we landed at the strip mall where we would rob the ATM and learn the new swear word I was close to fainting. Not like any of the others were doing better, October especially since she'd just escaped from the School and had been carrying Keegan.

_If you die, _I said to her, _I am sacrificing your body as food. Maybe you'll taste like fried chicken. _

_And, Marlene, if you die, I will be sure to cut you into steak-size pieces, cook you over an open flame, and eat you with ketchup. _

"Ugh, spare me the details," I said, shaking my head at her. "You aren't that hungry, besides if I'm correct there's a McDonald's in our near future."

"Mmmm," Nudge sighed. "Food." The other's quickly agreed.

"Violet, you wouldn't mean that ATM would you?" Max asked, pointing across the parking lot of the strip mall. It was a drive-up ATM alright, and since there weren't any other's around I figured it was the one we would be robbing 200$ from. So I nodded.

"Si."

"And how do we do this?" Max asked after a minute.

"That." I pointed at a shiny, expensive silver car which was just pulling up to the ATM. The others, October not included, melted back into the bushes. The window rolled down and a man leaned out, shoving his card into the ATM.

"Well if you idiots hadn't lost the- What?! You say you _didn't _lose the card? Well stupid! _I still need money_!"

"Jerk!" Nudge said quietly. There was a murmur of agreement. "How much do we rob from him?" I shrugged.

"Hang on a sec." October and I slowly backed to where the rest of the Flock was. A huge truck with mud spattered all over it pulled up behind the rich dude's shiny car. He was yelling harshly into his phone and didn't seem to notice. At least, he didn't notice until the he truck bumped into him and started kicking pebbles onto the paint job.

"Hey! Watch it!" The man yelled, leaning out his window. The truck's window rolled down and a green-haired Ari leaned out.

"What'id ya say, dipstick?" he asked softly. The man's eyes widened and he slammed his foot down on the gas, zooming out of the parking lot. Ari laughed a couple of times, which sounded like evil barking, and also hit the gas zooming away. Max sucked in her breath behind me.

"Was Ari's hair . . . green?" she asked.

"Yep," Nudge and I replied softly.

"And blue," Fang added. "I think."

"Come on!" I said impatiently. "Before the machine shuts down and eats up the card!"

Cautiously we made our way across the parking lot to the ATM. I already knew that it would still be asking for another transaction, but I couldn't help sighing with relief when I saw the words flashing on the screen. Max glanced around at the Flock and shrugged, pressing "yes" and "cash" on the screen.

"How much do you think?" Max asked Fang.

"Take him for all he's got," he said while she slowly made her way through the accounts, balances, and subtotals.

"Ooh, you're evil!" She teased. "I like it!" She stopped a second later, hand hovering over the screen. We all bent over to look and whistled.

"Uh-huh! Oh-yeah! Uh-huh!" Nudge sang, doing a little dance. "We're gonna be ri-ich! We're gonna be ri-ich!"

"We can only take two hundred," I said sadly, gesturing at the machine.

"We're still ri-ich! we're still ri-ich!" She sang, determined not to be disappointed by the small amount. Small, that is, compared to what we could've gotten.

Max shrugged and pounded some other commands onto the ATM.

"OK, who knows his password?" She asked, looking at Iggy and Keegan. The best ears in the Flock.

"I heard it," Iggy said uneasily.

"Yeah, same here," Keegan said, just as unsure. Max stepped aside and Keegan looked at the keypad. "I dunno..."

"Let me try," Iggy said, placing his long slender fingers on the key pad. He concentrated, closing his blind eyes. He pressed a couple of keys, but Keegan shook his head quickly.

"No, there wasn't a five," he said. And sure enough the words:

_Access denied, please make sure you have the right PIN_

Appeared on the screen.

"No, it was more like. . ." Keegan pressed a few other numbers, and we all waited. Nothing . . . until…

_Access granted. Cash or debit?_

"Yes!" Fang said, punching the air.

"Freaks rule!" I said. He gave me a split-second glare because, of course, that was exactly what he was going to say.

"Get cash," he added to Max. She rolled her eyes.

"I already told it that!" she snapped, punching the cash button again. Bills started streaming out of the slot. We all started grabbing them and shoving them into our pockets on Max's command of "grab it and go!" When we were sure we had all of them, we _ran_ back across the parking lot into the woods.

* * *

**Please review! :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**We're back, bitches.  
**

**-October**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty**

**October's P.O.V**

"I could totally buy an itouch with all that money." I said wistfully, looking at the stack of bills in Fang's hand. He looked at me sourly before returning to his count.

"It's too bad we couldn't get more." he sighed, pocketing it.

"Yeah, because then I could have gotten the 32 GB..."

"Shut up, Coral. "Keegan grumbled. I smirked and shook my head.

"Let's go." Marlene urged us. We ignored her, all spotting the red van.

Excuse me, did you not get the point?

The Red Van. The The The.

Fang and Max exchanged a look. Marlene groaned.

"I hate this part..." she complained. "We can't steal a car!"

"What?" Keegan yelped.

"Not stealing, borrowing." Fang corrected, his eyes still trained on the vehicle. "We could... leave him money. As a rental fee."

Gazzy rubbed his hands together energetically. "We're stealing a car?"

"No." Marlene said sharply at the same time I said: "Yes." We glared at each other, having a verbal battle inside out heads, Nudge looking back and forth between the two of us.

_Don't even think about it! We could get killed!_

_Seriously, Marlene? Seriously? If we don't, it could totally change the entire freaking series! We could get killed by fans!_

_...I refuse to agree with you._

We snapped back to the conversation. "Better 'borrow' it soon." Iggy was saying. We all looked at each other one more time (it was getting old) before sprinting across the parking lot, Keegan pausing- but following. Max and Keegan fiddled with under the hood for a moment while Iggy stepped on the gas. Soon, the engine roared to life. Everybody jumped into the car and I somehow found myself in the passenger's seat. Max jumped into the driver's seat. Everyone went silent.

"Oh god. We don't know how to drive." Fang groaned.

"It's easy." I explained, though I had no experience. "Floor the gas, steer with the wheel, and don't die."

I never get carsick. But twenty minutes later, I though I just might barf.

"I don't want to barf in a borrow car..." Gazzy groaned.

"I don't want to barf at all." I agreed. Max pursed her lips and ignored us.

"We need to turn east in about 500 yards." she said. Behind me a I heard Keegan groan and I turned to see him clutching his stomach. Obviously he wasn't the only carsick one. Marlene shot me a 'hey, you wanted to drive instead of flying!' look and I stuck out my tongue at her.

Soon, Max pulled over and was in danger of giving herself a concussion due to the force she was using to slam her head into the steering wheel.

"Where is the freaking road?" she yelled.

"You're going by your own directional senses." Fang pointed out. I agreed.

"There can't be roads everywhere you feel like there should be a road..." Iggy added. Max looked livid and I leaned out of her smacking range. After a few more mutters from Max she pulled the car around and puttered back down the place we came. I slumped in my seat.

We stopped one more time so Max could beat the crap out of the steering wheel before we found a place to eat. After Max gave us the 'Anybody could be an Eraser yada yada yada' talk, we leapt out and rushed into the fast food restaurant.

This is the part where the author totally skips everything because it really isn't important at all. Plus she is lazy. And hasn't written anything in months.

*coughcough* Never mind that. Onward to...plot?

_Marlene? Look up from that ball of grease your inhaling, will you?_

Marlene looked up and met my eyes, immediately remembering the scene we were in and gulping down the rest of her triple-cheeseburger-with-extra-cheese-and-burger-hold-the-onions. Her fourth one, actually. Max sensed our tension and looked up, then slowly lowered her eyes.

"Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, quietly stand up and exit. Now."

Nudge and Gazzy showed no sign they had heard Max, then suddenly sprang up and dashed out the exit. An alarm went off and messed with my hearing, throwing me into a slight panic. I grabbed Iggy's arm and we ran out behind Max and Fang, with Marlene and Keegan behind us.

"Move, MOVE!" I yelled Iggy, shoving him rudely into the van and scrambling in behind him, yanking the door closed as Marlene fell in.

"GO!" Fang shouted and Max floored the gas. The sudden force caused me to fly backwards and I smashed through the back windshield, falling out of the car and bouncing on the pavement. Bounced? Since when do I bounce?

_October? OCTOBER? Are you alright?_

I didn't answer. I couldn't breathe, let alone think. An Eraser had his booted foot on my chest, and was pressing down, _hard._ With the last bit of strength I had (wow, that sounded cheesy) I grabbed his foot and twisted it, putting him off balance and leaping to my feet. I rasped for breath and pushed my wings out, taking off into the air. An Eraser grabbed my foot, but I shook him off and flapped my wings, searching for the van.

_Yeah, I'm OK. I got away. Marlene, their going to capture you. You have to stop them!_

_And what, not go to the School? If we don't go, Max doesn't learn she has to save the world, and she doesn't save Angel!_

I grimaced.

_Do we have to save Angel? I mean, she's a little bitc-_

_Language! _Marlene reprimanded.

_English! _I replied, still scanning the road for the van. Marlene groaned.

_You spend too much time with that boyfriend of yours._

_Oh shut up. _I snapped, but had a grin. I spotted the red van, driving along the highway, and dove down, landing on the roof with enough force to dent the roof. I heard a few shrieks from inside and lay down on the roof, leaning over and waving so they could see it was just me. I peered through the window and my gaze was met by a gaggle of wide eyed, scared teenagers. I groaned; wrong van. Standing up, I took off in search of the right van. I spotted it, and knew it was the right one seeing as it was plowing through a corn field. I landed on the roof and grabbed hold of the bike rack.

_I'm on the van. _I told Marlene, and I heard her yell to everyone inside, letting them know where I was. I turned around to try and find the Eraser's cars, when we leapt onto the road and slammed into a sedan. My arms felt like they were popping out of my sockets and I flew backwards, smashing through the windshield of the Eraser's car behind us, and momentarily blacked out.

* * *

When the little stars and circles in front of my eyes faded, I opened my eyes to find myself in the lap of an extremely attractive young male. An Eraser. I tried to scramble to my feet, but yelled in pain as I realized I had shards of glass in my back, my head was bleeding, and my elbow was dislocated. The Eraser smiled, and stepped out of the car, wiped the shards of glass out of his lap, and dragged me out behind him. I whimpered slightly as my arm bounced and tears pricked my eyes. I was such a baby. I looked up just in time to see the rest of the flock get dragged out of the van before someone smashed the back of my head and I blacked out. Again.

* * *

When I awoke, I found myself lying in an uncomfortable position in a cold, metal cage. I looked around and saw Marlene in the cage to my right, and Fang to my left. Nudge was next to him, with Keegan next to Marlene, and Max, Iggy, Gazzy and Angel across the aisle from us. I groaned as I sat up and all eyes turned to me. Except Marlene's. She was still out cold.

"How long have we been here?" I whispered to Fang. He shrugged. I gritted my teeth and popped my elbow back into place, letting out a small cry as it did so. I placed my hand on my back and when I brought it back to my face it was covered with blood. I grimaced.

"You look like crap." Fang commented, eyeballing my back. I sighed.

"How bad is it?"

"Probably looks worse then it is." he reassured me. I winced.

"Really bad then."


	21. Chapter 21

**So after a day or two of Marlene and I freaking out about 'OhmygodwehavenoreviewsTHEY_HATE_US*cry*', Hideout Writer pointed out to us that the previous Chapter 20 had been the Q&A, and people couldn't review twice.**

**We felt stupid. Very, very stupid.**

**But on with the chapter!**

**-October**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty One**

**Marlene's POV**

By the time I came around we were already in the School, and the rest of the Flock was awake. I watched the pretty colors swirling behind my eyelids for a couple of seconds before opening them. I swear it was like trying to lift lead but I managed eventually. I sat up and cracked my already incredibly sore head on the top of the cage. With a yelp I slumped back against the side of the cage.

_Marlene! Marlene, are you okay!_

_Ow... _I moaned, be quiet...

_Oh, sorry. Are you okay? _She asked again in a fake whisper, I rolled my eyes.

_Got a Max-sized headache, and I think I lost a couple teeth..._

_They'll grow back, you've got three more rows_, October assured cheerily. Scowling I stretched out to see how big the cage was. I guessed medium... About. I could touch both sides with my arms outstretched and I couldn't sit up without hitting my head, which I'd already found out. I heard a door opening and stiffened. All eyes turned to me, though Angel and October already knew what was happening.

"Max," Angel said in a hurried whisper, "Max, it's really important!" She looked at Max with huge, terrified eyes and Max went all mother bear. I could almost see her fantasies of ripping apart Erasers... That girl had some serious anger management issues, I mean really...

_Heeelllloooo? Marlene! Ding! Ding!_

_Shut up_, I begged, clutching my head. October grinned evilly from her cage beside me.

_That's only slightly against my nature_, she informed me... Not for the first time. I would've made some sort of smart reply if there wasn't a Whitecoat standing in front of my cage. Max was already gone, I must've missed that whole exchange. The Whitecoat unlatched my crate and I was this close to kicking his pants and making a run for it, but when I saw the huge needle in his hand I figured it best to stay. Yeah, yeah, I know... Bad idea. But you should've seen the sucker! That needle could've sedated a whale... Which I was not. I was a shark thank you very much. I climbed out of the crate and stretched my back, instantly the Whitecoat had that huge needle at my chest.

"_Dude_...Personal space," I said, taking a step back and pushing the needle away slightly. My head pounded painfully but I ignored it. The Whitecoat glared at me before turning and unlocking October's crate as well.

_You know, _October said as she stood up and also stretched_, you have to feel bad for these guys sometimes..._

_Give 'em hell? _I guessed, trying to hide my smirk. October turned to me and gave me a full-blown smile.

_You betcha_.

The Whitecoat looked from me to her and I grinned toothily at him. His eyes widened when he saw my teeth and he jumped back into Iggy's crate, almost dropping his clipboard.

"Hey!" Iggy said, slamming himself against the front of the crate and sending the Whitecoat flying into Keegan's crate.

"Watch it!" Keegan snarled, showing his own pointy teeth to the poor traumatized Whitecoat. October elbowed me and raised her eyebrows, I smiled and nodded. October dropped to a crouch, the Whitecoat stared at her, looking a bit terrified. She tackled him to the ground and I jumped up, grabbing the keys from his belt and running to Gazzy's cage.

"Get out!" I ordered, flinging open the door and yanking him out.

"But what about-"

"Go!" I growled, glaring at him. "There's a window just down that hallway. Go to the hawks!" Gazzy nodded quickly and ran towards the doors. There was a groan off to my side and I turned to see October being pinned down by the Whitecoat who was trying to plunge that giant needle into her arm. Mind, he was having a pretty difficult time doing this due to October thrashing around like a fish out of water...

_A little help here!_ October yelled in my head.

_What happened? _I demanded, taking advantage of the moment and spinning around to literally kick the Whitecoat in the ass.

"Does it matter!" She screeched as the Whitecoat tumbled over her head. I grabbed her hand and she jumped up. _Get Ig and Angel out!_

"Where're the keys!" I asked after a minute of frantic searching.

"You dropped them?" October asked, her eyes wide. "You-you dropped the keys!"

"Well sorry for helping you," I muttered rolling my eyes.

"Here!" Keegan called and we turned to him. He was lying on his stomach in his crate, one of his thin arms sticking through the bars trying to reach something just a little too far away.

"Oh my god, Keegan! I love you!" October announced loudly, dropping to her stomach and grabbing the keys. I noticed for the first time that the back of her shirt was dark red... Blood. Crap. October stood up and saw my face.

"What?" She asked, quickly unlocking Iggy's cage and then moving on to Angel's. Iggy jumped to the ground and I tapped his shoulder.

"Go straight, through the doors, take a right, there'll be a broken window right in front of you," I said, "go to the hawks, Gaz should be waiting." Iggy nodded and darted down the hall. That was when the alarms went off... A little late on that one boys? I'd think so. Either way, I was startled into dropping the keys. And this time they slid... Under Fang's cage. Fang swore rather badly and dove for them but they slipped through his fingers.

"OK, you go, and we'll see you tomorrow," I told October, pushing her towards the door for emphasis.

"Yup, sounds good. See ya! Bye!" And she was through the doors just as Erasers started swarming into the hallway... I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Crap.

"Fang!" Keegan hissed, "get that paperclip on the front of your cage!" He was already fumbling with the lock and in a couple of seconds it sprung open. Fang's long fingers easily found the paperclip and fitted it into the low-tech lock. I kicked the nearest Eraser between the legs and he dropped like a sack of lead. The only problem: two more replaced him.

"Hey! Catboy! A little backup!" I growled, whipping around and chopping an Eraser's neck.

"I've got my own problems, Sharky!" Keegan called back, punching one Eraser in the gut before turning on his heel and kicking another in the face. Ouch.

"Vi! Duck!" I hit the deck and Fang jumped over me, punching an Eraser in mid-air. Show off.

"Thanks Fangles," I said standing up, brushing off the front of my shirt, and landing a kidney punch to an Eraser who was closing in on a pre-occupied Keegan.

"Fangles?" I turned and grinned at Fang.

"Yes! Fangles!" Fang's eyes widened and for a second I thought he was going to hit me. But, it ends up, he was looking at something behind me. Yes kids, there was a Whitecoat standing behind me. Who's surprised? Anyone? Didn't think so. There was a sting in my back and I didn't need to turn and widen my eyes in horror (though, y'know, I did anyway...) to know it was a huge needle... That one probably _meant_ to tranquilize a whale. I dropped, rather dramatically I might add, to the ground. A second later Keegan fell next to me and next, yeah you guessed it, Fang was on his back a needle sticking out of his arm. Poor bird-kid...

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